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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November 16, 2016

Custom Column Strip Widths

RISAFloor v11 now includes the ability to create custom column strip...

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November 11, 2016

Adding Roof Parapets in RISAFloor

RISAFloor v11 now includes the option to add parapets and parapet loading...

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November 09, 2016

How to verify loads graphically in RISAFloor

RISAFloor does not record the applied area loads in a spreadsheet. To...

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November 02, 2016

Basic Code Terms for Seismic Behavior and Why We Use Them

Seismic Forces are generated automatically using seismic parameters R,...

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October 20, 2016

Shear Splices between Slabs

In RISAFoundation v8, you can add a shear splice between slabs so that it...

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October 19, 2016

Instabilities in RISA-3D with Flexible Diaphragms

In a model that contains both RISAFloor and RISA-3D data it is possible to...

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September 07, 2016

Understanding the Slab Design Cut Results

In RISAFoundation, the user has the ability to manually draw a single...

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August 31, 2016

Why Do My Wide Flange Members Fail in the AISC 14th Edition Code?

In RISA-3D’s addition of the AISC 14th Edition code we added Section E4...

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