RISAConnection is designed to work directly with your RISAFloor and RISA-3D models, not as a separate “export‑and‑forget” tool.
When the integration is set up correctly, RISAConnection can read your geometry, member sizes, connection rules, design method, and load combinations, then send connection results back into RISAFloor and RISA-3D for review.
This article walks through how the integration behaves, what you can and cannot change in RISAConnection, and how to work with grouped connections efficiently.
When you integrate from RISAFloor or RISA-3D, RISAConnection creates a .rcn file with the same file name as your model in the same folder.
You’ll see that the project is populated with all valid connections—only connection types that RISAConnection can design will be brought in.
Data that is integrated:
Geometry and member sizes
Connection Rules from RISAFloor / RISA-3D (including bolted vs. welded settings)
Design Method (ASD or LRFD)
Applicable Seismic Design Rules from RISA-3D (for seismic connection types)
Load combinations that have the “Connection” check‑box enabled in the RISAFloor / RISA-3D Load Combinations spreadsheet
If a connection type or configuration is not supported by RISAConnection, it will not be added to the .rcn project and a warning will be generated.
RISAConnection and RISAFloor/RISA-3D must run at the same User Account Control privilege level in Windows; otherwise, the programs will not communicate correctly.
Once the project opens in RISAConnection, connections are grouped in the Project Explorer based on Connection Rules and member types.
Grouping behavior:
Primary grouping is by Connection Rule (from RISAFloor / RISA-3D).
Within a rule, connections are further grouped by:
Lateral vs. Gravity members
Whether a beam frames into the web or the flange of a column
Column shape type (WF, HSS/tube, pipe) for shear tab, clip angle, and end plate connections
Some specific rules:
Wide‑flange columns: flange and web connections are separated into different groups.
HSS/tube columns: grouped together.
Pipe columns: grouped together.
Clip angle and end plate connections on pipe shapes are invalid and will generate warnings.
For brace connections:
Vertical brace connections with similar brace shape types (L, LL, WT, HSS, Pipe, WF, channel) and similar configuration (top‑only, bottom‑only, both) will form their own groups.
Chevron brace connections are grouped by brace shape type.
If the top and bottom braces use different shape types, the connection is invalid for integration and will trigger a warning.
Connection properties are controlled at three levels:
RISAFloor/RISA-3D
Project level (in RISAConnection)
Group and Connection levels (in RISAConnection)
Only RISAFloor / RISA-3D can modify:
Design Method (ASD vs. LRFD)
Connection grouping (Connection Rules and their assignments)
Whether connections are bolted vs. welded at the rule level
Seismic Design Rule settings for seismic connections
If you need to change any of these, you must:
Edit the RISAFloor or RISA-3D model.
Adjust the Connection Rule or Seismic Design Rule as needed.
Re‑integrate to RISAConnection (which will overwrite those integrated properties in the .rcn file).
Inside RISAConnection, you can edit properties at different scopes.
Project level
Click the project name in the Project Explorer.
Adjust Project Properties (description fields, certain Global Settings – Solution options).
The graphics on the left show representative views of all groups.
Group level
Click a Group to see its Group Properties.
You can change connection properties that apply to all connections in that group.
Properties that are grayed out are controlled by RISAFloor/RISA-3D.
If “Various” appears, connections in that group have different values for that property.
Group‑level edits overwrite any individual connection changes for those fields.
Connection level
Click an individual connection to see its specific properties.
Grayed out fields may be controlled by RISAFloor/RISA-3D, Project level, or Group level.
To change those, you must move up to the controlling level.
RISAConnection imports only those load combinations from RISAFloor / RISA-3D that have their Connection checkbox selected.
When you select a connection, a Load Combination dropdown appears in the upper‑right corner:
Load combinations are renumbered inside RISAConnection because they may come from both RISAFloor and RISA-3D.
Each combination is labeled with its source (“3D” for RISA-3D, etc.).
For each selected combination, you can:
View the forces for that connection in the Loading section.
For moment connections, see Top Column Distance, Column Force, and Story Shear values imported from RISAFloor or RISA-3D (for RISA-3D combinations only).
By default, these loads are read‑only.
If you set Custom Loading to “Yes,” you can manually edit the loads, but they will no longer correspond to the original RISAFloor / RISA-3D results.
Note:
When you click an individual connection, RISAConnection automatically jumps to the governing load combination (the one that produces the worst‑case code check) for that connection.
You can solve by connection, by group, or for the entire project.
Options:
Use the Home tab solve buttons.
Or right‑click in the Project Explorer:
Right‑click the Project to solve all connections.
Right‑click a Group to solve that group.
Right‑click a Connection to solve that connection only.
Every imported load combination is analyzed for each connection when you solve.
Viewing results:
Project Explorer
Shows Pass/Fail, maximum unity check (UC), and the controlling load combination for each connection.
Groups show “Pass” only if all connections inside the group pass.
If a property changes, affected connections are invalidated and show “N/A” until re‑solved.
Reports
The Report view shows unity checks for the currently selected load combination.
The default load combination is the one that produced the worst‑case UC.
If results are invalidated, you’ll see a message; clicking it re‑solves that connection for all load combinations.
Once connections are solved, you can send results back to RISAFloor or RISA-3D:
With the RISAFloor or RISA-3D model open and solved, use:
File → Export Connection Results, or
The Export to RISA-3D/FL button in RISAConnection.
Key round‑trip behaviors:
Any items controlled by RISAFloor / RISA-3D (sections, connection types, integrated loading, etc.) are overwritten in the .rcn file each time you send new data from the analysis model.
Items that are purely RISAConnection‑controlled (for example, certain local connection options) are retained across round‑trips, unless you change the Connection Rule at that member end; in that case, new defaults overwrite your changes.
The RISAFloor/RISA-3D model and the .rcn file must have the same name and be in the same folder to remain linked.
Member sections used in integrated connections must be saved in the shapes databases; sections stored only in the model file or in AISC_BACKUP cannot be used in RISAConnection.
If you want to break the integration and make the RISAConnection file fully independent, you can use Detach inside RISAConnection.
Detaching gives you full control over all connection input, but you lose grouping based on the original rules, and only the loading from the first load combination is kept; there is no way to re‑attach later, so save a backup before detaching.