Tips & Tricks

December 29, 2025

What’s New for IBC 2024 in RISA: A Closer Look

With RISA’s latest release of RISA-3D v23.0.1, we’re continuing to expand support for IBC 2024, helping engineers stay aligned with the latest building code requirements as adoption accelerates across the U.S.—including federally funded projects. This release builds on v23.0.0 ASCE 7-22 enhancements and adds key material design updates that move RISA further into full IBC 2024 compliance. New Material Design Updates Supporting IBC 2024 The upcoming release introduces several important design code updates referenced by IBC 2024, including: Steel Seismic design per AISC 341-22 Prequalified connections per AISC 358-22 Continued support for AISC 360-22 (16th Edition) steel design Ongoing updates to the hot-rolled shape database, including compatibility with both 15th and 16th Edition steel manuals These updates support modern seismic detailing requirements and ensure consistency with current steel industry standards. Masonry Masonry design per TMS 402-22, aligning with the latest strength and serviceability provisions adopted by IBC 2024. Key updates include: Revisions to shear design equations, including clarified definitions of shear area as outlined in Table 4.4.5, improving consistency and transparency in shear capacity calculations. Updated strength reduction factors for flexure and combined flexure + axial. Unlike previous editions that used a fixed ϕ-factor of 0.9, TMS 402-22 introduces tension-controlled,…

Read More

SCBF Seismic Brace Connections
May 25, 2016

SCBF Seismic Brace Connections

Vertical Diagonal Brace connections and Vertical Chevron Brace connections may be designed as Special Concentric Braced Frame (SCBF) connections in RISAConnection v6.

Read More
OCBF Seismic Brace Connections
April 19, 2016

OCBF Seismic Brace Connections

Vertical Diagonal Brace connections and Vertical Chevron Brace connections may be designed as Ordinary Concentric Braced Frame (OCBF) connections in RISAConnection v6.

Read More
Improved Wall Panel Results
March 26, 2016

Improved Wall Panel Results

Wall Panel Forces Spreadsheet The power of RISA is the easy to access output. The Wall Panels have all the calculations and forces displayed in the Detail Report and now the new Wall Panel Forces gives you a quick way to get all the forces across the base of the wall. This new spreadsheet can be...

Read More
How Do I Find A Failing Member in the Model?
March 18, 2016

How Do I Find A Failing Member in the Model?

You may find that when looking at the Code Check spreadsheet that a given member is failing in design. Here is an example where a steel brace is failing in bending.

Read More
Importing Recorded Seismic Ground Motions
March 10, 2016

Importing Recorded Seismic Ground Motions

The Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research center (PEER) has a large library of measured earthquake records. Below is an example of how to quickly convert one of these records into a format that can be imported into RISA.

Read More
How to Thicken a Slab
March 3, 2016

How to Thicken a Slab

RISAFloor ES allows you to model concrete slabs of any thickness. However, there might be sections of the building that require a thicker slab. The icon is shown below and it will allow you to draw a Polygon or Rectangular shape.

Read More
What are the Ramp Up/Coast Down Functions in Time History?
February 24, 2016

What are the Ramp Up/Coast Down Functions in Time History?

Ramp Up Function RISA allows you to define “Ramp Up Functions” to control how the force and frequency vary during this initial startup time. Typically cyclic equipment loading is applied as a reduced force or frequency when it is initially starting up. It would be overly conservative if it were...

Read More