Abstract: A method, which uses the damping ratios and frequency of freedecaying oscillations as basic information to identify the flutter derivatives of a two dimensional bridge deck, is proposed. In this method, noncoupled flutter derivatives are identified by the Scanlan's method, while the coupled ones are determined by solving a system of nonlinear equations and using the parameters of the predominant modes for a given reduced wind speed. Compared with Scanlan's method in current use, the proposed method not only reduces the technical requirements to the wind tunnel tests, but also increases the accuracy of the identification.