Is it so clear that it's a question of statics? Knots are often tied in dynamic rope (static rope will lose much more strength around a tight bend radius) and if you look at break-testing youtubers like HowNot2 the knots move a lot while they are being broken. A knot that's taken to almost breaking loads looks very different to the original knot in most cases.

My impression is that a common failure mode is the rope cutting through itself, which comes down to dynamic friction and the resulting heat I think.