In recent decades it has been widely recognized that preventing of failure of engineering structures necessitates involvement of a large amount of expertise and, depending on the application, might require for a multi-disciplinary and multi-scale approach in terms of both, size and time. The series of the International Conference of Engineering Against Failure (ICEAF) aims to provide on a bi-annual basis a Forum to present relevant scientific and technological achievements and discuss with an audience of international experts.The current special issue contains papers presented at the 3rd International Conference of engineering Against Failure (ICEAF-III), which took place during the period 26-28 of June 2013. Several distinguished scientists and researchers contributed to a high-level scientific gathering during which the latest advancements in the conference topics were presented and discussed upon.