A vortex combustor is a novel gas turbine combustor that uses staged combustion technology. Research examining the combustion organization method of the pilot combustion zone and the mainstream combustion zone is an important component of the design of the structure of a vortex combustor. In this paper, a new type of single-cavity vortex combustor fueled with aviation kerosene is presented. A double-vortex flow field structure and an evaporation tube for the fuel supply are used in the pilot zone. The flow-field structure of a double recirculation zone and a pneumatic atomization injector for the fuel supply are used in the mainstream combustion zone. The combustion experiment was performed under atmospheric pressure. The influence of the air-flow parameters, fuel parameters and staged method on the combustion performance and the characteristics of the pollutant emissions were studied in detail. Research indicates that the inlet temperature and the staged method primarily influence the ignition limit, lean blowout, combustion efficiency, temperature distribution of the outlet and pollutant emissions. The equivalence ratio primarily influences the temperature distribution of the wall and pollutant emissions. The inlet velocity influences the total pressure loss of the combustor. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.