RISA | Tips & Tricks

February 25, 2025

A Day in the Life of an Industrial Structural Engineer

If you've ever wondered what it’s like to be an industrial structural engineer, let me paint you a picture: Imagine juggling a dozen problems at once—steel frames, conveyor supports, pipe racks, tank foundations—all while trying to decipher a set of drawings that look like they were faxed from 1997. And, of course, every single solution is needed yesterday. But don’t worry! With the right tools (cough RISA and ADAPT cough), navigating this daily chaos becomes a lot more manageable. So, grab your coffee (black, obviously), and let’s walk through a typical day. 6:30 AM: Morning Coffee & Evaluating Additional Loads The first email of the day: “Can we add another 10,000 lbs of equipment to the mezzanine? What about seismic drift and vibration?” Instead of a lengthy hand calculation, you fire up RISAFloor and check gravity load distribution. Exporting to RISA-3D, you analyze modal frequencies and check if the additional weight will push the structure into an uncomfortable range for human occupancy. Seismic drift is next. A quick response spectrum analysis in RISA-3D confirms that the drift is still within acceptable limits. You send your report with confidence—no major framing changes required. 9:00 AM: Field Issue - Pipe Rack Base…

March 20, 2013

Plate Contours Compared to Spreadsheet Values

After solution in RISA-3D, you can use Results View Settings to view the Plate Contours graphically on your model.

February 7, 2013

Tapered Member Design Using AISC Design Guide 25

RISA has now incorporated the tapered member design provisions from Steel Design Guide 25: Frame Design Using Web-Tapered Members written by Richard Kaehler, Don White and Yoon Kuk Kim. These code checking procedures are used whenever the AISC 13th or 14th edition steel codes are selected.

January 31, 2013

Slab Modifications in RISAFoundation

This video shows how slab modifications can used to add an opening or change the thickness of a portion of the slab in RISAFoundation.

January 7, 2013

Import DXF Drawing Grid in RISAFloor

This video shows how to import a DXF as a drawing grid in RISAFloor. To do this, you can save any drawing file as a DXF file format and import points, lines, polylines, arcs and circles into RISAFloor. This gives you the ability to create your own drawing grids with complex geometries and use this...

October 15, 2012

Updated Torsional Shape Properties

RISASection v2 includes updated torsional shape properties for a more accurate analysis. Check out the video below for more information:

October 10, 2012

Using Virtual Joist Girders in RISAFloor

The Steel Joist Institute (SJI) has recently put together a Virtual Joist Girder table which converts common joist sizes into equivalent wide flange beams. This topic describes how to use these Virtual Joist Girders within the RISAFloor program.

October 4, 2012

Using Virtual Joist Girders in RISA-3D

The Steel Joist Institute (SJI) has developed a Virtual Joist Girder table which converts common joist sizes into equivalent wide flange beams for use in RISA-3D.

September 13, 2012

How Can I Use a Wall for Shear Only (no Bearing) in RISA-3D?

Let’s consider the example of the frame shown below. Suppose there is a diaphragm present at the framing level, and that the wall shown is intended only to handle the lateral loads. In reality the columns will be in-line with the wall, and the cantilever beams will pass over the wall without...

September 6, 2012

How to Install a RISA Program on a Mac

RISA programs are Windows based and have historically been installed only on PC’s. Although RISA programs do not run natively on an Apple computer we have done some testing to confirm that our programs will run on a Mac using a virtual computer running a Microsoft Windows OS.

Tips & Tricks