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The fatigue growth of a sickle-shaped surface crack in a metallic roundbar under bending loading is examined. The flaw, located in a plane perpendicular tothe longitudinal axis of the bar, is assumed to present an elliptical-arc shape during thewhole propagation and, therefore, can be defined by the crack depth at the mostinternal point on the defect front, and the aspect ratio of the above ellipse. Linearelastic fracture mechanics concepts are used to calculate the Stress-Intensity Factor(SIF) along the crack front, by employing a 20-node isoparametric finite element modelwith quarter-point wedge finite elements arranged near the defect. The SIF values arecomputed using the one-quarter point displacement method and assuming the planestrain condition along the crack front. The numerical results obtained are comparedwith experimental data available in the literature. Then, a procedure based on theParis-Erdogan law is applied in order to simulate the crack growth under cyclicbending. Fatigue analysis results are presented in terms of crack paths for some initialflaw geometrical configurations being examined.