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The influence of shear forces on the deflections of cracked beams loadedby bending and shear forces are analysed by means of several 3D non linear models ofcracked beams. It is generally believed that the additional shear flexibility due to thepresence of a transverse crack in rotating shafts is negligeable: this study aims to verifythis assumption. The results show that the assumption is true for all deflections exceptfor the torsion deflection, excited by a coupling effect, which is strongly influenced bythe shear load.