
November 16, 2016
Custom Column Strip Widths
RISAFloor v11 now includes the ability to create custom column strip widths in order to optimize the design of slab reinforcement.
RISACalc in the Field: A Case Study in Confidence and Convenience It was a typical Thursday morning for Emma Ruiz, PE, a structural engineer at a small consulting firm in Colorado. Her day started with a site visit to a rural school renovation—a project where her team was assessing whether a portion of the existing structure could support new rooftop HVAC units. The original framing plans were incomplete, and as Emma inspected the roof framing, it became clear that the contractor’s proposed unit placement didn’t line up with the assumed beam layout. A decision had to be made, and quickly—the rooftop unit was scheduled for delivery the following day. The Problem: Time-Sensitive Field Check Emma didn’t have time to return to the office to rebuild a full model or dig through spreadsheets for older framing checks. She needed to verify—on the spot—whether the existing W10x22 steel beam could support the new loads at the proposed spacing. The contractor waited, the facilities director asked for reassurance, and Emma pulled out her tablet. The Solution: RISACalc in Action Emma opened RISACalc, selected the beam design template, and input the beam size, span length, and newly calculated roof loads, including snow and equipment…
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RISAFloor v11 now includes the ability to create custom column strip widths in order to optimize the design of slab reinforcement.
In the RISA-3D when you model a WT brace it exists at the member centroid, which means that no bending ends up in the brace due to the fact that the brace is actually eccentric to the braced frame.
RISAFloor v11 now includes the option to add parapets and parapet loading to a building.
RISAFloor does not record the applied area loads in a spreadsheet. To simplify modeling, it instead assumes a default area load over the entire diaphragm area. Additionally, you are free to apply area loads beyond the default loads. Whatever is drawn last will be considered the applied loading...
Seismic Forces are generated automatically using seismic parameters R, SD1, and SDS in the Seismic Load Generator when using the Director to go from RISAFloor to RISA-3D or when inserting Seismic Loads on a rigid diaphragm in RISA-3D. Additionally, Seismic Load Combinations can be generated using...
In RISAFoundation v8, you can add a shear splice between slabs so that it acts like a hinge. This is useful for modeling the effects of shear keys or dowel joints between slabs.
In a model that contains both RISAFloor and RISA-3D data it is possible to define your diaphragms as either flexible or rigid for lateral design. You can do this from the Diaphragms spreadsheet in either program:
In RISAFoundation, the user has the ability to manually draw a single Design Cut anywhere on a slab. The Design Strips also automatically include Design Cuts which are used to determine the governing design forces in the Design Strip. For more detailed information on the specifics of Design Strip...
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