A time domain model is presented to study the vibrations of long slender cylinders placed in shear flow. Long slender cylinders such as risers and tension legs are widely used in the field of ocean engineering. They are subjected to vortex-induced vibrations(VIV) when placed within a transverse incident flow. A three dimensional model coupled with wake oscillators is formulated to describe the response of the slender cylinder in cross-flow and in-line directions. The wake oscillators are distributed along the cylinder and the vortex-shedding frequency is derived from the local current velocity. A non-linear fiuid force model is accounted for the coupled effect between cross-flow and in-line vibrations. The comparisons with the published experimental data show that the dynamic features of VIV of long slender cylinder placed in shear flow can be obtained by the proposed model,such as the spanwise average displacement,vibration frequency,dominant mode and the combination of standing and traveling waves. The simulation in a uniform flow is also conducted and the result is compared with the case of nonuniform flow. It is concluded that the flow shear characteristic has significantly changed the cylinder vibration behavior. A time domain model is presented to studying the vibrations of long slender cylinders placed in shear flow. Long slender cylinders such as risers and tension legs are widely used in the field of ocean engineering. They are to vortex-induced vibrations (VIV) when A three dimensional model coupled with wake oscillators is formulated to describe the response of the slender cylinder in cross-flow and in-line directions. The wake oscillators are distributed along the cylinder and the vortex-shedding frequency is derived from the local current velocity. A non-linear fiuid force model is accounted for the coupled effect between cross-flow and in-line vibrations. The comparisons with the published experimental data show that the dynamic features of VIV of long slender cylinder placed in shear flow can be obtained by the proposed model, such as the spanwise average displacement, vibration frequency, dominant mode and the combination of standing and t raveling waves. The simulation in a uniform flow is also conducted and the result is compared with the case of nonuniform flow. It is that that shear the shear characteristic has significantly changed the cylinder vibration behavior.