The concepts, principles, assumptions and fundamental rules of Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) are introduced. An application to Cerro do Lobo tailings dam is presented, with the description of the system considered, the functionalities, the potential failure modes of each component, their corresponding root causes and the sequence of effects. Finally, the available measures in place for the detection and control of the sequence of effects are also identified. Although FMEA application in complex dam systems may constitute a time-consuming process, its outcome can be extremely useful as illustrated in this article. It makes it possible to assess and manage the major risks of dams so that mitigation actions, taken at an early stage, can be optimised from an efficiency standpoint.

Cultural Heritage Buildings are considered highly complex, having evolved over time, and contain various heritage components. These assets are becoming increasingly at risk due to unprecedented transformation processes in cities, from underground railways. Experimental and monitoring strategies can serve as diagnostic tools on the effects of long-term exposure to induced vibrations, from this new source. The current work presents the Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) outcomes in the Church of the Angels (Igreja dos Anjos), a monument of the early 20th century, in Lisbon, Portugal, directly over a subway station, in a shallow railway line, subjected to groundborne vibration. Criteria from international standards provide threshold values, mostly in terms of velocity, which are linearly related to stress and strain fields. Specific criteria for non-structural components are usually set, accounting among others, frequency bandwidths and levels of intermittency. Even if recommendations specify the velocity as a primary measurement, it is often needed to obtain velocity–time histories from acceleration data, as accelerometers are widely used in practice. Weak signal processing, low sampling frequencies, the type of integration in time or frequency domain and digital filtering, with incorrect cut-off frequency bandwidths, may lead to processed signals, distorted in terms of shape, phase and amplitude.

Embankment structures in civil engineering, such as earth dams and fluvial dikes, have a crucial role in society. These structures, often used for water storage and mining tailing containment, are cost-effective due to their reliance on locally sourced materials. While the failure of concrete structures is not so frequent but often lead to severe consequences, embankment structures, particularly fluvial dikes, are more prone to breach and the consequences vary from mild to catastrophic, depending on the proximity to human populations. Worldwide, some fluvial dike failures have resulted in catastrophic outcomes for human lives, the local economy and the environment. This paper aims to develop a methodology to calculate in situ breach outflow hydrographs, resorting to real-time, non-intrusive and friendly access technology. The goal is to provide a practical platform for developing and testing integrated systems applicable to prototype failure cases. An accurate, real-time hydrograph estimation capacity improves risk assessment. The proposed methodology deploys, in a medium-scale experimental facility, common technology and data processing techniques to characterize the evolution of a fluvial dike failure. The morphodynamic and hydrodynamic components influencing the in situ breach outflow hydrograph are assessed by characterizing, in real-time, the breach morphology at the surface and underwater, the surface velocity maps and the corresponding cartesian coordinates.

The geotechnical risk of a tunnel is strongly dependent on ground properties and on the construction techniques and rate of advance. In the urban environment, design is often determined by serviceability limit states of adjacent structures and, to a lesser extent, of the tunnel itself. The observational method (OM) is an effective risk management tool in geotechnical engineering and particularly in tunnel construction. It helps with deciding in the presence of uncertainty in ground conditions. A fundamental prerequisite for its application is that only epistemic uncertainties are present, so that uncertainty reduction of the relevant parameters may be achieved by monitoring. Deterministic models are often used, limiting the versatility and significance of the OM. In this paper conceptual considerations about the implications of ground uncertainty with due account of spatial correlation are presented. A combined computational framework for random finite difference models based on MATLAB and FLAC is introduced. A case study of a tunnel in stiff clayey ground is presented to evaluate the relative importance of the magnitude, type of variability, and spatial correlation of both deformability and shear resistance parameters. A simulated application of the OM is presented with a comparative analysis of the decisions in an OM approach.