1.1    Purpose—This guide establishes recommendations and considerations for the development, verification, validation, and reporting of structural finite element models used in the evaluation of the performance of a metallic vascular stent design undergoing uniform radial loading. This standard guide does not directly apply to non-metallic or absorbable stents, though many aspects of it may be applicable. The purpose of a structural analysis of a stent is to determine quantities such as the displacements, stresses, and strains within a device resulting from external loading, such as crimping or during the catheter loading process, and in-vivo processes, such as expansion and pulsatile loading.