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

August 5, 2026

For Engineers. By Engineers. Celebrating Professional Engineers at RISA

Happy National Professional Engineer’s Day to all the licensed engineers! We are excited to celebrate our customers and coworkers today. RISA is a product for engineers brought to you by engineers. With the vast majority of our team coming from an engineering background, RISA is truly an engineering partner to our customers. We value the experience and insights these engineers bring to each and every one of our teams. Today, we highlight just a few of the licensed professional engineers who help make RISA so special! READY TO CONNECT? Explore RISA with an engineer today! Alex Vaughan, PE, SE Job Title Manager, Subject Matter Experts and Software Quality Years with RISA 3 years What's your favorite part of being an engineer? For me, it's getting to understand the "why" behind a problem or a situation. That curiosity shows up in two ways: either by building something from scratch and figuring out how all the pieces need to come together, or taking an existing design and reverse-engineering it to see how someone else solved the same puzzle. Both are incredible ways to learn. One through creation and the other through observation. What really excites me is seeing that curiosity play out…

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RISAFloor (15)

June 01, 2011

How to Assign a Wood Roof Member’s Unbraced Length in RISAFloor

In RISAFloor, the beams are susceptible to two forms of buckling; Euler...

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May 26, 2011

How to Represent Trusses in RISAFloor Model Without Modeling the…

Using this method in RISAFloor, we are not actually designing the trusses,...

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April 06, 2011

What are the Unbalanced Forces on Beams?

V-Brace frames in RISA-3D seismic design have unbalanced forces shown on...

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February 01, 2011

What is a “Default Deck” in RISAFloor?

To understand decks it is important to know what a deck is. In typical...

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October 26, 2010

How to Use Spreadsheets More Effectively in RISA

RISA includes various advanced spreadsheet operations that make reviewing...

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September 14, 2010

How to Model a Building on a Hill

When dealing with a sloping site, it is often necessary to step-down the...

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September 14, 2010

How to Design Flexible Diaphragms in RISAFloor

When you model your building in RISAFloor, make sure that you define your...

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August 31, 2010

How Are Wind Loads Generated for Sloped Roofs?

RISAFloor is capable of automatically generating the wind loads on sloped...

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August 27, 2010

What is the Dyn Load Category in RISAFloor?

The Dyn Load represents the additional load that must be included in the...

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