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---
title: Document Info
reportDate: April 2025
reportType: Computer Program Document
reportTitle: RMC-TotalRisk
reportSubTitle: User's Guide
reportAuthors: ['Haden Smith, Risk Management Center', 'Woodrow Fields, Risk Management Center']
reportAbstract:
reportAcknowledgments: RMC-TotalRisk would not exist without the support of Risk Management Center (RMC) leadership, in particular RMC Director Nate Snorteland and Lead Engineers David Margo, Jason Needham, and Timothy O’Leary. The authors also recognize David Bowles and Ruben Jongejan for performing an external peer review of the software and risk analysis framework. The software development team is very grateful to those who contributed to the software.
reportSubjectTerms:
responsiblePersonName: Haden Smith
responsiblePersonNumber:
citationGuide: "C. H. Smith and W. L. Fields, <i>RMC-TotalRisk User's Guide</i>, Lakewood, CO: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Risk Management Center, 2025. Accessed on <i>{enter current date here}</i>."
---

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# Document Information

<DocumentMetadata metadata={frontMatter} />
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<NavContainer
link="/desktop-applications/rmc-totalrisk"
linkTitle="RMC-TotalRisk"
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# Version History

<TableVersionHistory
versions={['1.1', '1.0']}
dates={['May 2026', 'March 2026']}
descriptions={['Placeholder — describe the changes in this revision.', 'Initial release as an online document.']}
modifiedBy={['Enter author name', '-']}
reviewedBy={['-', '-']}
approvedBy={['-', 'Nate Snorteland']}
/>
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---
title: Preface
---

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# Preface

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers TotalRisk software (RMC-TotalRisk) performs quantitative risk calculations for a system from a set of hazard,
transform, system response, and consequence functions. RMC-TotalRisk is part of an integrated software suite that supports risk assessments.
The software features a fully integrated modeling platform, including a modern graphical user interface, data entry, report quality charts, and
diagnostic tools. RMC-TotalRisk can evaluate risk for a single component with multiple failure modes and a complex system comprised of multiple
components. This document is a guide for developing a quantitative risk analysis with RMC-TotalRisk.

Version 1.1 of this Users Guide reflects refinements introduced in the v1.1 release of RMC-TotalRisk, including updated system requirements, an
expanded description of the Project Explorer pane, and additional acronyms commonly encountered when configuring multi-component analyses.
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---
title: Welcome to RMC-TotalRisk
---

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# Welcome to RMC-TotalRisk

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Risk Management Center (RMC) developed the quantitative risk analysis software (RMC-TotalRisk) to enhance and
expedite risk assessments conducted by the USACE Flood Risk Management, Planning, and Dam and Levee Safety Communities of Practice.

RMC-TotalRisk is a menu-driven software that conducts risk analysis based on user-defined hazard, transform, system response, and consequence functions.
The software features a fully integrated modeling platform, including a modern graphical user interface, data entry capabilities, and report quality
charts and diagnostics. RMC-TotalRisk can perform multi-failure risk analysis for individual dams or levees as well as for complex systems with multiple
components.

## Why You Should Use RMC-TotalRisk

RMC-TotalRisk is a powerful risk analysis software designed with an intuitive and easy-to-use interface. It simplifies the complexity of risk assessments
by connecting the core components of risk — hazard, transform, response, and consequences — through a clear and intuitive risk diagram. The software
generates a comprehensive range of risk outputs, including excess, background, total, failure, and non-failure risks. Each component of the analysis can
incorporate uncertainty, and the software supports modeling multiple locations with distinct failure modes as separate system components, streamlining
system-level risk evaluations.

RMC-TotalRisk offers unique capabilities that set it apart from other USACE software. It supports diverse hazard types, including floods, earthquakes,
and wildfires, extending beyond the flood hazards modeled by most tools. The software also accommodates a wide range of consequence types, enabling
assessments of life loss, economic impacts, and environmental effects. Seamless integration with other USACE programs allows it to import data from RMC-RFA,
RMC-BestFit, RRFT, ERDC-StormSim, HEC-WAT, HEC-RAS, HEC-SSP, and LifeSim, providing unparalleled inter-software compatibility.

The software includes advanced functionalities, such as event tree analysis, which enables users to model geotechnical and structural performance with
diagnostic and sensitivity tools unavailable in other USACE platforms. RMC-TotalRisk uniquely accounts for multiple failure modes, offering options for joint,
competing, common cause, and mutually exclusive failure modes, each with distinct consequences. Additionally, it models dependency between failure mode
capacities and hazard functions using flexible options, including user-defined correlation matrices.

RMC-TotalRisk calculates five critical types of risk — excess, background, total, failure, and non-failure — that are essential for informed decision-making.
It provides comprehensive outputs, including loss exceedance curves, risk measures, and assurance metrics, all fully compliant with USACE policies for dam safety,
levee safety, and flood risk management. Furthermore, it can replicate and update legacy risk analyses from tools like DAMRAE, LST, and HEC-FDA, enhancing its
value for risk-informed investment decisions.

## When You Should Use RMC-TotalRisk

Use RMC-TotalRisk whenever you need to perform a risk analysis, particularly when the analysis involves complex systems with multiple components, uncertainties,
or dependencies. While the software is frequently applied in flood risk management, its capabilities extend far beyond this domain. RMC-TotalRisk is relevant to
any scenario involving hazards, responses, and consequences, making it a versatile tool for a wide range of scientific, engineering, and policy applications.

The examples in this document relate to flood risk for dams and levees. However, the software is not limited to flood risk management applications. RMC-TotalRisk
is designed as a general-purpose risk analysis software capable of estimating risk for various complex systems. Its flexibility and robust analytical framework
make it suitable for applications such as:

- **Flood Risk Assessment**: Evaluate risks associated with floods, including structural vulnerabilities and potential consequences for infrastructure and populations
- **Seismic Risk Assessment**: Evaluate risks associated with earthquakes, including structural vulnerabilities and potential consequences for infrastructure
and populations.
- **Wildfire Risk Management**: Estimate the probability of occurrence, and assess associated economic, environmental, and human impacts.
- **Environmental Risk Analysis**: Analyze risks to ecosystems from natural or anthropogenic hazards, including climate change impacts, pollution, or habitat degradation.
- **Industrial and Infrastructure Safety**: Assess risks for critical infrastructure, such as power plants, bridges, or pipelines, accounting for failure modes
and interdependencies.
- **Custom Applications**: Tackle any scenario where hazards and consequences can be defined, including risks related to human health, transportation systems, or
supply chain disruptions.

RMC-TotalRisk's ability to integrate diverse hazards, model complex dependencies, and account for uncertainties makes it ideal for multidisciplinary applications.
Whether you are working on a dam safety program, evaluating the environmental impacts of a natural disaster, or designing resilient infrastructure, RMC-TotalRisk
provides the tools to comprehensively assess and communicate risk, supporting informed decision-making.
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---
title: Risk Analysis Framework
---

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# Risk Analysis Framework

In RMC-TotalRisk, a risk analysis computes the risk associated with a collection of potential failure modes for each system component. A failure mode consists
of three key inputs: a hazard, the system’s response to the hazard, and the consequences of that response. A non-failure mode, on the other hand, includes the
hazard and the associated non-failure consequences.

A risk analysis uses four types of functions as inputs:

- **Hazard Function**: Commonly called a frequency curve, this function describes the exceedance probabilities of various hazard levels. Examples include annual
maximum peak flow frequency, peak reservoir pool stage frequency, and peak ground acceleration.
- **Transform Function**: This function converts hazard levels from one type to another. For example, a peak flow-frequency function can be transformed into a
stage-frequency function using a flow-to-stage rating curve. Transform functions are optional.
- **System Response Function**: Often referred to as a fragility curve, this function defines the conditional probability of failure for various hazard levels,
such as water surface elevations (WSEs). The system response function specifies the failure mode.
- **Consequence Function**: Sometimes called a damage function, this function describes the consequences of failure or non-failure for various hazard levels,
such as annual maximum peak WSEs.

For example, <FigReference figKey="figure-1"/> illustrates the conceptual risk analysis process for a levee with a single failure mode and a
single system component. Beginning in the top left of the figure, the flood **hazard** is defined by an annual maximum peak flow-frequency distribution, estimated
using flood-frequency analysis methods. Next, moving to the top right, peak flow is **transformed** to a WSE using a stage-discharge rating curve estimated using
a hydraulic model. Then, moving to the bottom right, the **system response function** is defined by a probability of failure given the WSE, often derived from
engineering analysis and expert elicitation methods. And finally, moving to the bottom left, the **consequences** given failure are estimated as a function of WSE.

<Figure
figKey="figure-1"
src="figures/desktop-applications/rmc-totalrisk/users-guide/v1.0/figure0.png"
alt="Levee risk analysis process for a single failure mode and a single system component."
caption="Levee risk analysis process for a single failure mode and a single system component."
/>

The risk analysis computes the expected annual consequences by integrating over these functions. For a deeper understanding of the mathematics involved in risk
analysis, refer to the technical reference manual (Smith et al., 2025) <Citation citationKey="TechRef"/>. Additional USACE guidance on risk
analysis for flood risk management is in EM 1110-2-1619 (USACE, 1996) <Citation citationKey="EM1619"/>
and Best Practices in Dam and Levee Safety Risk Analysis (USBR and USACE, 2019) <Citation citationKey="BestPractices"/>.

This user guide demonstrates how to create a project; enter hazard, transform, response, and consequence functions; create a risk diagram, perform a risk analysis,
and review results.

<CitationFootnote/>
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