January 14, 2016

Importing a Time History Function

New in RISA-3D v14 is the introduction of a Time History analysis feature. Time history functions may be generated directly in the program based on simple sinusoidal functions. More complex functions, however, can be imported from a text file.

Import Format

RISA can import a Time History function from an ASCII text file. The RISA Help file shows you how to layout the ASCII text file. RISA-3D will read the file into the Time History library when it’s placed in the Time History sub-folder of the main RISA directory.

To access Time History Function Library, click on the Advanced tab and select Time History. First click on the Import button, and locate the Time History ASCII text file.

Once a Time History Function has been imported, you’ll find it at the bottom of the list and you can click View/Edit to review and verify the plotted diagram.

Tags: Time History, Dynamics, RISA-3D, New

December 8, 2017 | RISAFoundation, New, Piles

Pile Design now Available

Hot rolled steel, wood, and concrete piles are now available in RISAFoundation v10.0. The Pile Definition Editor lets the user input the pile’s properties including the pile’s shape, material, and length. For concrete piles the user has the ability to apply a custom shear and flexural rebar layout or have the program optimize the reinforcement design. RISAFoundation automatically calculates the compressive and tensile capacities and stiffnesses using the pile’s properties and material design code selected in the Model Settings. The pile’s stiffness is then used to compute the load the pile receives during the analysis to determine the pile’s unity check. With the addition of Soil Depth Properties, the static pile capacity is calculated to compute the pile’s soil unity check. After the model is solved, the results are available in the Pile Results spreadsheet and in a Pile Detail Report. Pile Detail Reports can be accessed to view the pile’s geometry, material, code, analysis and the design results used to calculate the code checks. The Axial Capacity Diagram at the bottom of the detail report shows the demand force in blue versus the static pile capacity line in red. This diagram can be helpful in understanding the pile’s load…

December 8, 2017 | RISAFoundation, New, Soil

Soil Properties in RISAFoundation

With Pile Design in RISAFoundation, you have the ability to define the default soil properties for the entire model. But also the Soil Definitions spreadsheet gives you control over all the soil property layers in one location. The default soil definition will be used the whole model except where another soil region is drawn in the model (shown below with the Default? checkbox). Note: If you only have one soil profile for your entire model, you don’t need to draw a soil region. The program will use the default for the soil region. The Soil Definitions spreadsheet has the option to input the depth properties used for axial pile design of concrete, hot rolled, and wood piles. To access the Soil Depth Properties spreadsheet, just click on the Depth Properties cell and click on the red arrow. The Soil Depth Properties spreadsheet will allow the user to enter the soil layer properties. You can refer to the project site geotechnical report to find the soil layer properties. In special cases where the building site has different soil properties across the site, the user can draw a soil region through the Draw Soil Regions tool: The Soil Definition Editor allows the…

February 15, 2022 | RISAFoundation, New, Piles

Design of Single Piles in RISAFoundation

As more engineers trust RISAFoundation for their foundation design needs, additional requests and features are added in order to provide the most robust and comprehensive design options possible. In RISAFoundation, users can design a single pile without a slab or pile cap. This allows engineers to easily check the loads on a single pile while not having to perform an FEA load distribution over a mat foundation. When designing a single pile, users will still need to define the compressive and shear capacities of the pile along with the required soil characteristics in order to obtain results. Results are available in the Pile Results spreadsheet and in a Pile Detail Report. Pile Detail Reports can be accessed to view the pile’s geometry, material, code, analysis and the design results used to calculate the code checks. For more information about pile design in RISAFoundation, visit the Pile & Pile Caps section of the RISAFoundation Online Help. RISA Help…