Risa Tips & Tricks: How to Use Our Structural Analysis Software

September 1, 2026

Celebrating RISA Since 1987

1987 was the year President Reagan told Gorbachev to “tear down this wall” and the New York Giants won their first Super Bowl. Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” and The Bangles’ “Walk Like an Egyptian” topped the charts. While Pope John Paul II’s visit to Los Angeles drew national attention, the engineering world was also getting exciting news out of Southern California. RISA was founded there in September 1987. For nearly four decades, RISA has partnered with engineers to turn vision into structure. RISA-2D started it all, offering a simplified and straightforward software for the analysis and design of 2D structures. Today, that foundation has grown into a family of 10 products that support engineers throughout the design process from a single steel connection to a multi-story, post-tensioned concrete building. Through every stage of our company’s growth, RISA’s focus has remained the same: put the engineer first. RISA develops practical software with intuitive interfaces and efficient workflows, helping engineers spend less time on redundant tasks and more time applying their expertise to complex design challenges. We are grateful to the engineers who have been part of the RISA journey. Your trust, feedback, and challenging projects have helped shape…

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May 02, 2019

RISA Employees Participate in 5th Annual Run4Water 5k

RISA employees and their families recently participated in the 5th Annual...

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March 28, 2019

Assigning Seismic Loads in RISA-3D

RISA-3D has two ways of automatically generating seismic-related Basic...

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February 14, 2019

Connection Design per AISC 15th Edition Steel Manual now Available

Connection design according to the new AISC 360-16 (15th Ed.) Steel Manual...

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February 14, 2019

Out of Plane Design Checks on Column Web Connections

The AISC 360-16 (15th edition) has added a new section (see page 9-14...

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February 14, 2019

Updates to HSS Connections (Chapter K) according to AISC 15th Edition…

The most recent release of AISC 360-16 (15th Edition) includes changes to...

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February 14, 2019

What's New in RISAConnection v10

The release of RISAConnection v10 incorporates updates according to AISC...

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January 17, 2019

RISAFloor & RISA-3D: Two Buildings on the Same Podium

RISAFloor is the RISA Building System’s floor design software which allows...

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January 03, 2019

What wood wall design method should I use?

RISA-3D is one of the few pieces of software on the market offering wood...

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December 20, 2018

How to Create and Apply A Custom Rebar Layout

Applying a Custom Rebar Layout in RISA-3D: To begin creating a custom...

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