Slotted tubes play an important role in the medical device industry as the mechanical backbone for various device designs. Defining specifications for the slot cut patterns can be difficult due to precision requirements for validation tests and the expense of manufacturing test units. Modeling fidelity required to capture fatigue at narrow joints makes computational analysis difficult as well.
The medical device company developed a workflow using SmartUQ to successfully calibrate parameters in their fatigue model to better match a limited set of specimens they tested. They were also able to construct a discrepancy model in SmartUQ to map model form error in their computational model.
Using the calibrated emulator corrected with their discrepancy model, as well as emulator variance information that captured model uncertainty, the medical device company was able to set geometric specifications for key slot cut-pattern parameters that can be used as acceptance criteria in a manufacturing environment.
