The combustion efficiency and pollution emission of real fuel were improved by studying the ignition delay time of fuel. The ignition characteristics of RP-3 were accomplished by applying reflected shock wave in the shock tube and the apparent activation energies were analyzed. The endpoints of ignition were judged by means of retrodicting the maximum OH- spectrum curves to the basic values. The normalizations of auto ignition characteristics about different volume fractions were conducted. Result showed that
the normalizing data appeared good concentration in the chart. The apparent activation energies of RP-3 varied little about 154-171kJ/mol in different operating conditions. There was a positive correlation between the ignition delay time and the equivalence ratio or fuel volume fraction in the mixture
but there was a negative correlation between it and the pressure of mixture. The index impact factors about fuel volume fraction and pressure between RP-3 and JP-10 were roughly equal.