Adopting a partitioned FSI approach, the effect of air presence on the response
of horizontally, simply supported, prestressed membrane structures is investigated. Based on FSI systematic computations, an added mass & damping model is suggested to replace the FSI simulation by an efficient structural dynamic analysis with modeled added aero-dynamic coefficients. Then a parametric study is conducted and reported to examine the influence of various parameters on the added quantities. Utilizing numerically generated wind and FSI simulations of a membrane immersed in fluctuating wind flow, the necessity of added mass and damping modeling is demonstrated. Then a procedure to employ the FSI-based model is suggested to get as close as possible to realistic response using structural analysis only, attempting to save the need to carry out extensive FSI simulations, and making wind tunnel tests on rigid models of membrane structures more applicable.