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Traditional computational approaches in simulating crack propagation in perfectly brittle materials rely on the estimate of stress intensity factors along the rupture front. This proves highly challenging in 3D when the crack geometry departs from very specific cases for which analytical solutions are available, like eg the penny-shaped crack geometry. Here, we extend the first-order theory of Gao and Rice (1987b), and predict the distribution of the mode I stress intensity factor K I along the front of a tensile coplanar crack that is slightly perturbed from a reference penny-shaped configuration, up to second order in the perturbation amplitude. Our theory is validated against analytical solutions available for embedded elliptical cracks, and its range of validity is further assessed using numerical simulations performed on cosine front perturbations of varying mode and amplitude. It is then used to develop a homogenization …