a	crack depth
B, W, L	geometrical dimensions of a specimen
Cm,n	numerical coefficient
CT	compact tension
E	Young’s modulus, MPa
f(a)	probability density function of microcrack size (a) distribution
g(S)	probability density function of microscopic cleavage strength (S)
J	J-integral
J c	critical J-integral at cleavage fracture
j	rank number
Jmin, Kmin	threshold values
J0, K0	scale parameters
K	stress intensity factor
$K_{Jc}$	critical stress intensity factor at cleavage fracture
m, mJ, mK	Weibull modulus
P	fracture probability
p(V0)	fracture probability of an elementary volume (V0)
S	fracture strength
S	microscopic cleavage fracture strength
S(εp)	microcrack propagation resistance
Vpl	volume of plastic deformation zone
V 0	mean volume occupied by each micro-crack
dV	differential volume
$\Delta V$	volume of a finite element
ν	Poisson’s ratio
σys	yield stress
σ 0	scale parameter
σw	Weibull stress
σ 1	maximum tensile principal stress
${\sigma }_{1,0}$	maximum principal stress at initial yielding of a volume $dV$
${\sigma }_{th}$	threshold stress
σ d	resistance to microcrack nucleation
εp	plastic strain
$\varphi \left(m\right)$	numerical coefficient