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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Designing Light-Framed Structures: Tips for Wood & CFS
July 22, 2025

Designing Light-Framed Structures: Tips for Wood & CFS

Light-framed construction has become increasingly prevalent in mid-rise and modular development, driven by its cost-efficiency, speed of construction, and adaptability. But with flexibility comes complexity. Engineers designing with wood and cold-formed steel (CFS) must navigate a unique set of...

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RISA | Custom Wood Materials and Wood Schedules in RISA
August 15, 2023

RISA | Custom Wood Materials and Wood Schedules in RISA

In RISAFloor (and RISA-3D), the entire NDS species list is available as well as glulam materials but you may need to design a wood product that is not available in the program. In RISAFloor, you can create custom wood materials and wood schedules. Save these to your RISA databases and then your...

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RISA | Inputting the Wood Adjustment Factor, le, in RISA-3D
May 11, 2023

RISA | Inputting the Wood Adjustment Factor, le, in RISA-3D

Do you need to include effective length, le, per NDS Table 3.3.3 for your wood design? Yes? While RISA-3D does not automatically follow this le procedure per NDS Table 3.3.3, you as the engineer can input these values once you have them calculated. Inputting the effective length value in RISA-3D...

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New Features in RISA-3D v20.0.4 now Available!
November 4, 2022

New Features in RISA-3D v20.0.4 now Available!

We are pleased to announce our latest RISA-3D release. Our teams have been working hard to add the features and functionality that our customers have requested as well fix some of the issues that have been reported. New features in this release include:

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CD Factor for Wood Hold-Downs
September 15, 2020

CD Factor for Wood Hold-Downs

If you have utilized Hold-Down's in RISA-3D, you have mostly likely noticed that a value of CD is reported for each selection in the database. However, it may not be clear how it is being used?

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LRFD Wood Design per AWC-NDS 2015/2018 Codes
August 30, 2019

LRFD Wood Design per AWC-NDS 2015/2018 Codes

Strength Design (LRFD) according to the AWC-NDS 2015/2018 code has been implemented into RISAFloor v14.0. To select this code for your design, simply choose this code from the Codes tab within Global Model Settings.

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