This CAREER proposal is motivated by the current lack of diagnostic tools to dynamically monitor the mechanical state of the stented artery that is surgically implanted to allow proper cardiovascular flow. Multiphysics models will be developed and experiments carried out to study the mechanics of a stented artery with an in situ polymer sensor. The research effort is targeted towards development of: (1) a 3-D multiphysics framework for evaluating large strain pulsatile membrane sensors and (2) a coupled structure-sensor model to predict the correlation between sensor output and the varying stage of artery occlusion and rigidification.
The proposed work is anticipated to bridge the gap between vascular mechanical response and the current state of vascular health, and quantum jump the in situ health monitoring capability to enable critical clinician intervention through multifunctional sensors.
