The main objective of this thesis is to implement a numerical tool for the evaluation of 3D saturated / unsaturated transient flow through earth and rockfill dams with basis on the finite element method and a computer program written by Machado Jr. (2000) for analysis of similar 2D flow problems. In the 3D version, developed in this thesis, four-nodes tetrahedral elements were implement as well as special subroutines that make possible to vary in time the boundary conditions. The Richards` equation is solved through a mixed formulation, for the solution of the non-linear system of equations a Modified Picard`s method is employed. A special algorithm is used to store the sparse matrices which, in association with the bi-conjugated gradient method, rend the solver computationally very efficient, even for a large number of equations. Two different models were used to represent the characteristic curves: the exponential curve proposed by Srivastava and Yeh (1991) and the formulation suggested by van Genuchten (1980). The improved computer program, thereafter named GEOFLUX3D, was then applied for flow analysis of the Gouhou rockfill dam (China) and the Macusani earth dam (Peru). Numerical results point out that 3D numerical analyses are necessary for dams situated in narrow valleys, where the influence of the terrain geometry on the flow conditions are quite significant and cannot be just ignored.