How Do I Define Specific Member Sizes in RISAFloor?
November 10, 2015

How Do I Define Specific Member Sizes in RISAFloor?

RISAFloor is a design program in which it takes basic shape criteria about your beam or column members and then selects an optimal size to meet strength and serviceability criteria. However, the program can just as easily perform a design check for an as-built condition by defining specific member...

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Tolerance Between SP Joists vs. Normal Joists
October 28, 2015

Tolerance Between SP Joists vs. Normal Joists

Have you been in RISAFloor performing a steel product design and noticed an (SP) extension to a joist designation? The following will discuss when the program designs for these special loading conditions.

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Why Did the Wood Design Values Drop?
September 22, 2015

Why Did the Wood Design Values Drop?

You may notice discrepancies in the wood design values when comparing RISA with the NDS 2012 and older versions of the code. The American Wood Council updated the wood design values in the Addendum, which supersede the values used in the NDS 2012 and previous versions of the Design Values for Wood...

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Why don’t the Beams in my Frame have axial force?
September 9, 2015

Why don’t the Beams in my Frame have axial force?

The beams in a lateral force resisting system, such as a braced frame or moment frame, typically carry a significant axial force. In the example below (with no diaphragms) the beam (M4) carries a significant axial tension.

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How should I model beams in Revit to make them import into RISAFloor…
September 2, 2015

How should I model beams in Revit to make them import into RISAFloor…

Revit offers two options for setting the elevation of beams. The way these are used has a significant impact on how those members are round tripped to RISAFloor, so it is important for you to use them correctly. The Level Offsets are available at each end of the beam. They can be modified through...

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Residual Rigid Response (Dynamics)
August 20, 2015

Residual Rigid Response (Dynamics)

When running a Response Spectrum analysis for seismic design, the response for high frequency modes can be included without solving for their individual mode shapes. This is often done to save analysis time and memory. This topic discusses some of the technical background and gives references for...

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