  Topological Interlocking Structures (TIS) have been increasingly studied in
the past two decades. However, some fundamental questions concerning the
effects of Young's modulus and the friction coefficient on the structural
mechanics of the most common type of TIS application - centrally loaded slabs -
are not yet clear. Here, we present a first-of-its-kind parametric study based
on the Level-Set-Discrete-element-Method that aims to clarify how these two
parameters affect multiple aspects of the behavior and failure of
centrally-loaded TIS slabs. This includes the evolution of the structural
response up to and including failure, the foremost structural response
parameters, and the residual carrying capacity. We find that the structural
response parameters in TIS slabs scale linearly with Young's modulus, that they
saturate with the friction coefficient, and that the saturated response
provides an upper-bound on the capacity of centrally loaded TIS slabs reported
in the literature. This, together with additional findings, insights, and
observations, comprise a novel contribution to our understanding of the
interlocked structural form.
