Statistical approach to brittle fracture

A general expression for the failure probability of a brittle material is developed by using the properties of flaw size distribution and the stress necessary to fracture an inclined crack. A comparison is made with Weibull analysis and an expression for the Weibull modulus, which is known to be an empirical material constant, is related to the properties of the flaw size distribution of a material. Limitations in the application of Weibull analysis are also discussed.