Welcome to the RISA Help File. Please read this topic and pay particular attention to the License Agreement. If you are a first time user of RISA you should turn your attention to the Tutorials (a separate document) which are designed to get you up and running as fast as possible while still exposing you to the important features of the software.
The Tutorials are designed to be read in two ways. If you are already familiar with structural modeling in general you can skip the supporting text and read only the underlined action items to quickly move through the tutorial. If you want more thorough explanations of the modeling process you may read all or some of the supporting text as you see fit.
After you have gone through the Tutorials, use this Help File for detailed information on any topic. The topics are arranged in alphabetical order and are thoroughly indexed.
RISA-3D is a general-purpose -dimensional analysis and design program. This program has been developed to make the definition, solution and modification of structural models as fast and easy as possible. Analysis, up to and including calculation of maximum deflections and stresses, may be done on structures constructed of any material or combination of materials. Complete steel and wood design are also included in the program.
RISA-3D has full graphical modeling capability. You can draw your model on the screen and also perform extensive graphical editing simultaneously in multiple views. To modify your model data directly, RISA-3D employs a powerful, proprietary spreadsheet. All this combined with flexible data generation algorithms makes modeling very easy. Graphic display of the model along with applied loads, boundary conditions and much more, is always available. The model can be rapidly edited, solved, viewed, modified, re-solved, etc. The truly interactive nature of RISA-3D is its primary strength. RISA-3D is also able to perform elaborate error checking as you define the model, and offers context sensitive help every step of the way.
RISA-3D is an interactive program as opposed to a batch mode program. With a batch mode program, you would edit a text file in one program (typically called a pre-processor), and then solve it with another program, and then view the solution results in yet another program (typically called a post-processor). With RISA-3D, all model editing, model solution, and results browsing is accomplished through the same interface and with the same program. The interactive approach offers several unique advantages over batch mode which include; the ability to do real time error checking of your model data, the ability to do rapid model editing, solution, editing, and re-solution without jumping from one program to another, and the need for the user to learn only one program interface.
You may access the features in RISA-3D by using the menu system, or the toolbars. The best way to learn RISA-3D is to go through the Tutorials. The advantage to this is that you are exposed to the tools RISA-3D provides and the ways that you can take advantage of them.
One of the following operating systems is required:
An internet connection is required to launch the program. The internet connection must be maintained as long as the program is open, although brief internet outages (a few minutes) do not affect the user's ability to keep the program open.
A subscription provides access to the program and all upgrades during the subscription period. When your subscription expires, you will be given the opportunity to continue the program subscription. You are under no obligation to continue program subscription, of course, but if you decide to discontinue the subscription you will no longer have access to the full version of the program and technical support. In the event subscription is discontinued, the program will operate in a viewer or demonstration mode.
Complete program support is available to registered owners of RISA and is included in the subscription price. See Technical Support for a list of your support options.
RISA Tech, Inc. will provide technical support only for the current version of RISA-3D.
The following hardware is required:
For the full license agreement, please visit: risa.com/eula