On the significance and description of the size effect in multimodal fracture behavior.: Experimental assessment on E-glass fibers

The existence of a size effect is an integral part of the physical phenomenon of brittle fracture. The literature dealing with the influence of fiber size on its ultimate strength has mainly focused on specimens whose failure is governed by a single category of flaw. In this work, we are discussing the size effect from a statistical point of view for fibers exhibiting multiple failure modes. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.