A B S T R A C T R I~ S U M ! ~A recent asymptotic approach dealing with the size effect on the fracture properties of a large plate is further developed to consider the influence of both the front and back free surfaces of small sized specimens. The new extension is applied to experimental results found in the literature, and good agreements have been found between the predictions and the fracture resistance and energy measured using geometrically similar specimens and specimens with identical size but different initial crack or notch lengths. The physics behind the size effect are discussed based on the modified asymptotic approach. It is found that both the specimen geometry and crack length contribute to the size effect on fracture properties besides its physical size. In particular, the ratio of a fracture process zone size over its distance to a free surface plays a very important role.

No abstract