Tekla Structural Designer considers member orientation when displaying analysis results. Therefore, to apply the sign convention correctly, you need to know which is end 1 and which is end 2 of the member. For columns you also need to be able to identify the four faces: A, B, C & D.

To determine each of the above, you firstly need to display a direction arrow along each of the members, which can be done as follows:

In the active scene view a direction arrow is now displayed along the member which points from end 1 to end 2.

For columns the direction is always from bottom to the top and the arrow is always drawn adjacent to Face A. Looking down from the top of a column, Faces B, C, and D then follow in the clockwise direction.