The behavior of vortex-induced vibration of a two-degree-of-freedom cylinder near a deformable wall in steady flow is investigated experimentally. The typical phenomenon of the two-degree-of-freedom cylinder's VIV is discussed. The influences of initial gap between the cylinder and the wall on the dynamic responses of the cylinder are analyzed. The comparison is made about dynamic responses of the cylinder with one and two degrees of freedom. Experimental results show that the vibration of the cylinder near a deformable wall with a small value of initial gap-to-diameter ratios can generally be divided into two phases. The initial gap-to-diameter ratios have a noticeable influence on the occurrence of transverse vibration. The transverse maximum amplitude of the cylinder with two degrees of freedom is larger than that of the cylinder with one degree of freedom under the condition with the same values of other parameters. However, the vibration frequency of the cylinder for the two degrees of freedom case is smaller than that for the one degree of freedom case at the same value of Vr number
