Building designers have a growing range of software options for the design of all-wood buildings as well as hybrid structures of wood and other materials.
RISA Technologies has expanded its popular structural design software package to include complete wood design capabilities. RISA offers three software programs—RISA-2D, RISA-3D and RISAFloor—all of which incorporate wood features. RISAFloor and RISA-3D together comprise the “building system” software used to design a complete structure. RISAFloor is used first for gravity analysis and design, and RISA-3D is then used for lateral analysis. (This is where shear walls and diaphragms are analyzed and designed.) RISA-2D is generally used for single component design, including multiple shear walls in a single wall design. For more information:
- Self-paced training modules review both RISA-3D and RISAFloor modeling basics with an emphasis on wood design.
- Stream this video to see examples of what the software can do.
- Download this case study to read about how RISA-3D was used for the analysis and design of a 22,040-square-foot retail centre
- View a flyer to find out about RISA’s wood features.
- Visit risa.com.
WoodWorks engineering software for wood design (no relation to the Wood Products Council’s WoodWorks program for non-residential and multi-family buildings) is provided by the Canadian Wood Council and, in the US, is based on the National Design Specification® (NDS®) for Wood Construction. It includes three modules—Sizer, Shearwalls and Connections—and the Sizer module is also available separately. Click here for more information.