Risa Tips & Tricks: How to Use Our Structural Analysis Software

April 22, 2026

RISA-3D to RISAConnection: Making the Link Work

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. 1. What Actually Comes into RISAConnection 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…

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RISA-3D (27)

February 23, 2012

How Do I Resolve a P-Delta Instability?

Investigating P-Delta instabilities in RISA-3D (or RISA-2D) can be...

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February 13, 2012

How to Apply a Rigid Diaphragm in RISA-3D

In RISA-3D, rigid diaphragms can be added using the Diaphragm spreadsheet....

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February 06, 2012

How do Plates and Walls interact with each other?

Below is a model of a concrete flat slab (represented by a plate) which is...

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February 02, 2012

Why is Plate Meshing Important?

Aside from the topic of plate connectivity, the concept of plate meshing...

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January 26, 2012

How to Create T-Beams and L-Beams in RISA-3D

Modeling T-beams and L-beams in RISA-3D can easily be done by specifying...

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January 03, 2012

How to Append or Merge Multiple Models Together in RISA-3D

RISA-3D allows you to append, or merge, multiple models into a single...

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December 14, 2011

How to Import a RISASection Shape into RISA-3D

RISASection 2.0 includes the ability to assign your section as one of the...

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September 06, 2011

Methods to Integrate with RISAConnection

There are several ways to take your RISA-3D or RISAFloor model to...

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August 22, 2011

How to Define Connections from within RISA-3D

Steel connections can be designed from within RISA-3D using the...

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