The Transfer In and Transfer Out checkboxes in RISA’s Wall Design Rules spreadsheet help you control how forces from regions above and below openings are redistributed during design. Whether you're excluding precast elements or ignoring small segments over openings, these settings let you tailor the force path to match real-world behavior.
In RISA, wall panels automatically generate design regions above and below openings, in addition to the full-height wall segments.
Transfer In → Applies to in-plane loads (axial/shear). When checked, the in-plane forces from the small regions above and below openings are transferred into adjacent full-height wall regions.
Transfer Out → Applies to out-of-plane loads (bending/shear). When checked, out-of-plane forces from regions above/below openings are transferred to adjacent full-height regions.
This includes:
Line loads (like from floors or roofs) located directly above the region
The self-weight of the wall segment for that region
These forces are added into the adjacent region’s total force calculation for design.
Important Note: This is a design-level adjustment only. It does not affect the stiffness matrix used in analysis. The stiffness from all regions remains in place during solution. After solving, the forces collected in the upper/lower opening regions are simply moved into the adjacent regions for design purposes.
That means:
These transferred regions won’t appear in results output
Their forces are added to the adjacent regions
Your model looks and analyzes the same—but design results change
There are practical reasons you may not want to include those small regions above or below an opening in your wall design. Some examples:
1. Precast Panels Designed by Others
You're designing a cast-in-place wall, but the region above an opening is a precast header designed and manufactured by another supplier.
Check Transfer In: Don’t assign in-plane force to a component outside your design scope.
Check Transfer Out: If the precast isn't taking out-of-plane moment/shear, don't include it.
2. Concrete Infill Not Resisting Bending
You're modeling a wall with punched window openings, and the concrete between the windows isn’t reinforced for out-of-plane bending.
Check Transfer Out: Avoid sending out-of-plane loads into this unreinforced strip. Instead, forces will route to adjacent wall piers.
3. Ignoring Wall Segments Above/Below Openings for Simplicity
Some designers prefer to remove regions above and below openings entirely—particularly when they're too small to be meaningful.
Manually delete these regions in the Wall Panel Editor
Or leave them and use Transfer In/Out checkboxes to ignore their design
|
Feature |
Applies To |
What It Does |
|
Transfer In |
In-plane forces |
Moves axial and shear forces from regions above/below openings to adjacent regions |
|
Transfer Out |
Out-of-plane forces |
Moves bending and shear from regions above/below openings to adjacent regions |
|
Effect on Model |
None |
Analysis stiffness is unchanged; only design-level force redistribution |
|
Output Location |
Adjacent Regions |
Transferred regions won’t display force or reinforcement output |
Use Transfer In and Transfer Out when wall segments above/below openings need to contribute to adjacent pier design.
Turn on these settings when you're not designing that segment or it doesn't carry loads.
Deleting regions manually can also help simplify results—especially in irregular wall layouts.
Check your Wall Panel Forces and Design Results tabs to confirm force behavior matches your expectations.
For more details, see the full RISA Help File on Concrete Wall Design Rules.