Structural Design Program

[Forensic74]

I use RISA3D and hate it. So many illogical menus, input, and output. Importing from Autocad doesn't work very well, and drawing members is a PITA compared to other programs. I would look into RAM products.

 

[ToadJones]

My only gripe with STAAD is the output files are not formatted nice for reports.

 

[ErZaZee]

STAAD reports are okay but at least they should have tried to consider other format and saving options.

 

[ToadJones]

I have found ways to copy and save the code checks out of the output file, but other programs seem to have much nicer formats for the code checks.
STAAD is almost embarrassingly bad.

My other gripe is, STAAD doesn't always show the details of the design check.
For instance, STAAD will design double angle compression members and take into consideration LTB, but no where on the on output does it show it.
Same thing goes for compression members designed according to appendix B in the 1989 code.

 

[neffers]

My vote is for Bentley's RAM products.

 

[ErZaZee]

I'll check this RISA-3D other members are talking about and see if it will live up to the legend.

 

[kipfoot]

Consider VisualAnalysis. a versatile program that is intuitive to use. IES has other stand alone structural tools that have clear output results.

 

[RUS777]

@MainMan10

Never had a problem importing DXF files into risa. If you assign layers in AutoCAD with the HR_ prefix in the beginning it will transfer that information into Risa as a Hot Rolled section set and all you have to do is to assign proper member sizes.

Make sure that you round off joint coordinates and then perform a model merge. It works very efficently for me.

One thing with Risa is, like I said before, after importing files from AutoCAD you need to check Lb and K values for members, they tend to get wacky sometimes.

One more good thing about Risa is the support. There is plethora of webinars on their website that show you how to do things, some of them are free and some are payed, but some payed ones even count for continuing education credits for PE.

For me risa is far better than SAP. The only other program I could suggest is Dr. Frame, but I have very limited exposure to the program so I am of no help.

 

[TXStructural]

I've used RISA 3D extensively, and it is the quick and easy way to analyze framed structures.

I also now have CASA 3D on the iOS platform, which seems to work similarly. I cannot speak about ease of use since I have not mastered it just yet.

 

[Forensic74]

RUS, I have used both RAM Advanse (Elements), Ram Structural System and RISA, and in my experience RAM is far more productive and less prone to input error. Simple stuff like looking at a moment diagram is so much more difficult than it needs to be in RISA. I just did a composite floor design in Risa Floor last month and thought it was dicy and cumbersome. Beam input and modification took three times as long as with RAM. Its design output was somewhat black box, and the load input (deck self weight) is very misleading. There were a handful of instances where we'd read the help file to see what it's doing and we'd all ask ourselves why in the heck did they choose to do it that way. IMHO, RISA has a few iterations to go.

 

[TXStructural]

RAM Steel is excellent for building design, but I've not had as much success using it for non-building, non-uniform structures.

 

[Forensic74]

That's where you use Advanse

 

[Mflamer]

What were the complaints about Scia Engineer related to?

 

[southard2]

I use RISA 3D in my office. I feel it has a really simple work flow. You can start with the top tab and work you way down to the bottom tab. When you get done you know you've covered everything. Then I'll use the graphical interface to cross check my input. I have found it to be really useful to work with. I haven't kept up with all of its developments. The only pain is that in braced frames you need to break the members up to capture little delta amplifications. This might have been fixed with physical members but I've never bothered to check it. I just break up my column members anyway. But I have always liked its intuitive work flow.

I haven't used any of the other programs in a very long time. They could be better now. I think if you are going to do a lot of Floor framing it might be better with RAM.

RAM has a really good separate base plate program I use.

John Southard, M.S., P.E.

http://www.pdhlibrary.com

 

[bookowski]

I had said that I wouldn't recommend Scia. I probably shouldn't have said that as my experience is limited with it. We have it in our office and I've found the interface to be less user friendly than other programs. Every time I try it I give up and move to Risa or Etabs depending on what I'm doing. At the end of the day all of the major structural programs should produce accurate results provided that you understand how to use the program and what is input is required etc. I'm sure if you know how to use it well it is fine. I would just prefer a more intuitive interface.

southard - you still have to break up members to get little p-delta in the newest version of Risa but this is still true of most programs.