You can add the Initial Stress and Strain subnode to the 
Linear Elastic Material, in order to specify the stress or strain state in the structure before applying any constraint or load. The values given are not initial values in the mathematical sense, but rather a contribution to the constitutive relation.
 
    Initial stresses and strains can be included with Linear Elastic Material, 
Linear Elastic Material, Layered, and 
Nonlinear Elastic Material. For 
Linear Elastic Material, Layered, the contribution can be applied to arbitrary layers in a multilayered membrane when the Composite Materials Module is available
 
    
    If the same layer is selected in two Initial Stress and Strain nodes being active on the same boundary, the contributions will be added.
 
    Specify the initial stress as the Initial local in-plane force N0 and the initial strain as the 
Initial local in-plane strain ε0 (dimensionless). In addition, you can also provide the 
Initial out-of-plane strain εn0.
 
    If you know the stress, rather than the force per unit length, type in the stress multiplied by the membrane thickness mbrn.d. In a geometrically nonlinear analysis, the stresses should be interpreted as Second Piola–Kirchhoff stresses, and the strains should be interpreted as Green–Lagrange strains.
 
    Physics tab with Linear Elastic Material, 
Linear Elastic Material, Layered, or 
Nonlinear Elastic Material node selected in the model tree: