I am carrying out a concrete design but my design parameters are being ignored by STAAD.Pro during the design. Why ?

Ensure that the design parameters are specified before the design commands in the input editor. If these parameters appear after the design command, the design process will not use these and will continue to use the default values. The two scenarios are explained below   

Incorrect sequence of commands ( design parameters will be ignored by STAAD.Pro )

…

START CONCRETE DESIGN

CODE ACI

DESIGN ELEMENT 63 67 71

CLB 0.125 MEMB 63 67 71

FC 576 MEMB 63 67 71

END CONCRETE DESIGN

…

Correct sequence of commands ( design parameters will be considered by STAAD.Pro )

…

START CONCRETE DESIGN

CODE ACI

CLB 0.125 MEMB 63 67 71

FC 576 MEMB 63 67 71

DESIGN ELEMENT 63 67 71

END CONCRETE DESIGN

…

To achieve this graphically, select the last design parameter ( or the last command right before the DESIGN command, if there are no design parameters defined ) from within the tree structure on the right and then click on the Define Parameters button. Choose the appropriate parameter and value for it. Check the "After Current" check box within the Design Parameters dialog box and then click on Add. This will ensure that the design parameter gets added before the DESIGN command (or the CHECK CODE/SELECT command if you are carrying out steel design)

Although the example above relates to concrete design, the same is true for ANY other design ( like steel, timber, aluminum etc. ) as well.