Biological materials such as tooth enamel and seashell gain their strength from a unique internal structure, where rigid “building blocks” are arranged in an interlocking formation. This means that no block can move without disturbing its neighbors. The combination of this interlocking with weak interfaces between the building blocks leads to unique properties that typical human-made structures cannot normally match. To utilize these properties, engineers have recently begun to explore the topological interlocking concept and build structures inspired by biological interlocking assemblies. One of the biggest challenges they face here is understanding and predicting how topologically interlocked structures behave – and how they fail. In our research, we develop an out-of-the-box computer model to better understand these phenomena. We will shed light on the special structural behavior and the unique failure mechanisms of these nature-inspired structural forms.