The ignition characteristics in an evaporating Z-shaped flame-holder were experimentally studied. The kernel formation and flamelet growth at various ignition positions were acquired using high-speed photography and image processing

and the droplet size and distribution in addition to the time-averaged flame structure in the recirculation zone were analyzed. The experimental results showed that

compared with the traditional film evaporation flameholder

the evaporating Z-shaped flameholder can decrease the lean ignition and blowout equivalence ratios by 311% and 194% when Mach number was over 02. The formation of the initial kernel was related to the ignition position

caused by the double-reaction-zone morphology in the Z-shaped evaporating flame-holder. When the kernel generation was more contributed by the second reaction zone

the ignition performance of the Z-shaped evaporating flame-holder was better and the flamelet growth was faster. The ignition capacity was better when the ignition position was near the lower corner of Z-gutter

and got worse when the ignition position moved to the interface of recirculation zone and mainstream; meanwhile

the non-uniformity of oil mist attributed to the low fuel evaporation rate in the evaporation tube under low temperature and high speed conditions caused the transverse difference in lean ignition performance.