Debris flows are dangerous natural hazards affecting countries with steep terrains and heavy rainfall. They are associated with serious risks to human lives and infrastructure leading to important economic losses and fatalities. Debris flows involve complex mechanics and prediction techniques that are based on the calibration of models that must be constrained by trial-and-error back-analysis of previous landslides. Such predictions are a valuable tool for outlining potential hazard areas and the development of mitigation strategies and design of protective structures. The main goal of this work was to analyze the behavior of four debris flows triggered by heavy rainfall in tropical regions with numerical modelling. The Voellmy rheology was used to calibrate the cases occurred in Lajas and Llano de la Piedra in Costa Rica, and Córrego D Antas and Hospital São Lucas in Rio de Janeiro. The main parameters used for landslide risk assessment are runout distance, potential impact area, flow velocity and flow depth. The definition of appropriate calibrating parameters is important because it provides the possibility of first order predictions to be made about the motion of future landslides happening under similar conditions. The results of the dynamic analysis showed that consistent values were obtained for the main parameters evaluated in the 2D and 3D runout models, verifying the usefulness of these tools for landslide risk assessment and the project of protection structures.