Gas-phase auto-ignition delay times (IDTs) of methane/“air” (21% O2/79% Ar) mixtures were measured behind reflected shock waves, using a kinetic shock tube. Experiments were performed at fixed pressure of 1.8 MPa and equivalence ratios of 0.5 and 1.0, over the temperature range of 800–1000 K. Overall, the effect of equivalence ratio on IDT is negligible at entire temperatures measured in this study. The difference from traditional ignition regime at high temperatures, the undiluted methane/air mixtures present a four-stage ignition process at lower temperatures, namely deflagration delay, deflagration, deflagration-detonation transition, and detonation. Four popular kinetic mechanisms, UBC Mech 2.1, GRI Mech 3.0, Aramco Mech 2.0, and USC Mech 2.0, were used to simulate the new measurements. Only UBC Mech 2.1 showed satisfactory predictions in the reactivity of the undiluted methane mixtures; it was, thus, adopted to perform sensitivity analysis for identifying dominant reactions in the ignition process. The difference in channels contributing ȮH radicals causes a reduced global activation energy with decreasing temperatures.Keywords: Methane; multistage ignition; shock tube; sensitivity analysis
