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,…

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Seismic Design of Masonry Walls (TMS 402-16) in RISA-3D
February 15, 2022

Seismic Design of Masonry Walls (TMS 402-16) in RISA-3D

RISA-3D is expanding its industry leading support for the analysis and design of various materials with the implementation of Seismic Design of Masonry Wall Panels according to the provisions of TMS 402-16 (as well as ACI 530-13). When creating a model in RISA-3D, users now have the ability to...

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Determining Masonry Wall Compression Block Depth Value
August 18, 2020

Determining Masonry Wall Compression Block Depth Value "a"

When determining the Depth of Compression Block value of ‘a’ in a Masonry Wall design based on the equation a = (As * fy)/(0.8 * fm * b) in a RISA-3D model, it is possible to see a small variance in the program results versus a traditional hand calculation using this typical equation. The reason...

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Masonry Lintel Analysis using FEA
November 2, 2018

Masonry Lintel Analysis using FEA

In RISA-3D, the current method of design for masonry lintels is Simply Supported where the masonry lintels are idealized into a simply supported pin-pin beam configuration. Now, masonry lintels can instead be analyzed using finite element analysis. With this method, the lintel will be fully...

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Masonry Retaining Walls now Available
January 18, 2017

Masonry Retaining Walls now Available

Now available in RISAFoundation v9 is the ability to design masonry retaining walls and strip footings with the latest US codes. Simply define your masonry wall and reinforcement parameters in the Wall Footing Definition Editor and then draw your wall footing.

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