This thesis is an experimental study of shear effect of a two-degree-of-freedom cylinder in fluid flow in terms of different mass ratio. This study is done using an elastic cylinder of high natural frequency, and the free stream velocity is 0.2m/s to 1.5m/s. The results show that as mass ratio increases, the motion of cylinder becomes more stable and small, and the frequency response of cylinder self-excited is bigger than vortex-shedding response when spring constant is bigger enough. Thus it is not easy to observe the vortex-shedding frequency variation with respect to various velocities by dint of cylinder vibration. When it come to the shear effect, the effect of shear flow could decreases the drag force, and increases the lift force. Orbits of cylinder vibration is not symmetric; the displacement is more significant on low velocity side.