This is a continuation of the previous case number CS0768920 that was initiated and reported by me a few days ago. Your office has auto-closed CS0768920 on the ground that prestress can be considered as having the same category of loads as self-weight or seismic loads; and the icon of arrow that is currently used to denote prestress graphically in STAAD.Pro is purely to indicate that the member has a prestress load assigned and nothing more. But this is very misleading. First, prestress cannot be taken as having the same category of loads as self-weight or seismic loads; because unlike the direction of self-weight or seismic load, the direction of prestress is strictly dependent on the orientation of prestressing tendons and not on the orientation of the structure. Secondly, effect of prestress certainly changes depending on how it is applied to the surrounding elements: Prestress in tendon can impose compression in the surrounding (positive prestress) and can also impose tension in the surrounding (negative prestress). If positive prestress is shown graphically by an arrow in one direction, then negative prestress should be shown by an arrow in the opposite direction. That would be consistent with the way a typical concentrated load is graphically (and correctly) shown in STAAD.Pro.
I, therefore, suggest the idea that STAAD.Pro development team updates the graphical display of member prestress force so that its representative arrow reverses the direction when its magnitude is changed from positive to negative or vice versa. This will remove confusion and help read the graphical display of member prestress force more clearly and unambiguously.
