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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Load Combinations

December 17, 2021

Load Combination Generator in ADAPT-Builder

With the release of ADAPT-Builder v21, a new load combination generator...

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September 29, 2021

Creating Custom Load Combinations (VIDEO)

RISA-3D, RISAFloor and RISAFoundation allow users to create custom load...

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June 16, 2020

Understanding differences between Basic Load Cases, Load Categories…

One of the questions our support team receives often is the difference...

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August 30, 2019

Nested Load Combinations in RISAFoundation

RISAFoundation includes the ability to utilize “nested” load combinations....

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August 02, 2018

Governing Load Combinations for Shear in Concrete Columns

For concrete column members, the load combination producing the maximum...

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July 19, 2018

Designing Multi-Material Models for ASD & LRFD with one solution

RISA-3D includes material specific checkboxes on the Design tab of the...

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November 15, 2017

How to Create Load Combinations with RSA in RISA-3D

The Load Combination Generator in RISA-3D can now include earthquake loads...

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March 27, 2013

Nesting Load Combinations

The Load Combinations spreadsheet in RISA-3D is limited to ten columns of...

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