This work investigates experimentally and numerically how the front of initially through edge cracks in plate changes after they pass to be remotely fatigue loaded under pure bending to induce partial closure of the crack faces. This type of crack growth problem can occur in a variety of structures with preexisting defects, such as aircraft fuselages, ship hulls, pressure vessels components, and steel bridges. The bending loads induce tension and compression regions along the crack front, with the part of the crack faces that work under compression undoubtedly closed by the load, independently of any other closure mechanism. The part of the crack faces that work under tension; on the other hand, crack grows by fatigue gradually changing its shape. After performing tests on ASTM A36 steel specimens, it was observed that the bending load induces a kink on the crack front, in the transition between the part through crack created on the tension side and initial crack geometry. To understand the distribution of the stress intensity factor along such crack fronts, the measured crack shapes were reproduced in a three-dimensional fracture mechanics modeler (FRANC3D) coupled to a finite element analysis program (ABAQUS). With this coupled system, linear elastic stress analysis simulations were performed considering the nonlinear effects caused by the crack face contact in the compressed region. In particular, methods had to be proposed to treat numerical noise around the kink. The proposed methodology efficiently predicts the observed crack front shape changes; although the observed fatigue lives were better reproduced using a crackclosure correction factor when compared to crack growth data obtained from standard compact tension specimens. In addition, a series of normalized empiric expressions for both crack front shapes and stress intensity factors are proposed.