A Comparative Numerical Simulation of Fracture Behavior: Standard Part vs. Topologically Optimized

ABSTRACT The design of damage‐tolerant structures is a cornerstone of safety and reliability in the modern automotive industry. While topology optimization is widely recognized for its efficiency in mass reduction for stiffness‐driven problems, its direct impact on complex failure mechanisms such as fracture propagation remains a less explored, yet critical, area of research. Standard topology optimization applications often focus on static performance or fatigue life initiation, but do not explicitly address the structural response after a crack has formed. This paper proposes a rigorous numerical methodology to investigate and compare the fracture behavior of automotive components, bridging the gap between lightweight design and structural integrity.