Bending losses, due to any bend in a multimode optical fiber, causes mode stripping or loss of higher order modes in the fiber. The smaller the radius the higher the losses.

Long term exposure of optical fiber to bends will weaken the fiber but generally will not change the attenuation until the fiber fails. See bending loss in the glossary.

The bend radius is generally defined as the radius of the drum or mandrel on which the fiber is to be wound or bent.

For a given radius of curvature, the loss due to bending becomes significant when the effective index of a mode is below a “cut-off” value. The actual loss in a step-index fiber is very complex to calculate. There are usually so many assumptions by the time the calculation is finished that is better to depend on rule of thumb or actual measurements rather than depend upon calculations. See Mechanical Bend Radius Limits & Stress section.

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