Abstract: The fundamental solution for the bending of thin plates on elastic foundations is derived by Hankel transformation.This solution in an unified form includes all three different kinds of foundation models,which are treated separately in existing literature.For the generalized boundary value problem a complete set of boundary integral equations and relevant numerical scheme are established.By combining the boundary element method with the optimization technique a procedure is also presented for identifying mechanical parameters,in which the displacements of plate at several points are measured by JGPD instru-ment.The effectiveness of the proposed method in illustrated by two typical examples with practical appli-cations.