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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January 14, 2016

Importing a Time History Function

New in RISA-3D v14 is the introduction of a Time History analysis feature....

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January 07, 2016

Mechanically Graded Wood Design now Available

Mechanically graded wood materials have been added for the AWC NDS 2015...

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December 22, 2015

Wood Design per AWC NDS 2015 Wood Code

The latest versions of RISA-3D and RISAFloor now incorporate the AWC NDS...

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December 16, 2015

Concrete Design per ACI 318-14 Concrete Code now Available

The new ACI 318-14 code has been implemented into RISA-3D v14, RISAFloor...

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December 09, 2015

Envelope Detail Report Results

RISA-3D v14 introduced envelope detail reports for all material members....

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November 24, 2015

Making a Time History Animation Video

Time history analysis solves for normal analysis results (joint...

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November 19, 2015

Battered Retaining Wall Design

The batter dimensions can be set from Wall Footing Definitions:

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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...

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November 03, 2015

How to Investigate the Design Strip Results in RISAFoundation

In RISAFoundation, Design Strips are used to create regions in a slab for...

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