I defined a composite deck and I am getting the following warning during analysis

   ***WARNING: MEMBER     1 HAS COMPOSITE PROPERTY ASSIGNED TO IT AND HENCE THE MATERIAL CONSTANTS

               ARE SET AS THOSE OF STEEL. CURRENT SPECIFICATION IS IGNORED EXCEPT DAMPING RATIO.

What does the warning mean ?

Whenever one defines a composite section in STAAD.Pro, the software assumes the material for the beam to be steel and slab is assumed to be made up of concrete. The material properties for the steel beams are automatically read from the standard material properties for steel available in the software database. The warning is a generic one and is intended to inform the user that even if a different material property is assigned to these beams, STAAD.Pro will always use the properties of steel that is there in it’s database for these beams except for the damping ratio. The warnings are always generated, even if one assigns steel property to these beams, just to cover for the fact that one can actually change the properties for material Steel using the editor after defining it. So even if one does that, the software would still use the material properties in it's database for the composite beam. The warning is harmless and for information only more than anything else.