The objective of the current study was to formulate RP-3 kerosene surrogate by emulating fuel properties affecting the physical and chemical processes of the target fuel under the engine relevant conditions. This study utilized two-dimensional gas chromatography with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC x GC-TOFMS) and C-13 and H-1 nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to characterize the compositional characteristics of RP-3 fuel, and various standard test methods were applied to measure the physical and chemical properties of the target fuel. Two surrogate fuels (10, a mixture of five components and K2, a mixture of seven components) were optimally determined through a multi-property regression algorithm by matching carbon types (CTs), distillation curve, cetane number (CN), density, and threshold sooting index (TSI) of the target fuel. The measured and estimated values of both target properties and non-target properties of surrogates were validated against the experimental data of RP-3 kerosene. Ignition delay times (IDTs) of both surrogates were investigated in a heated shock tube and a heated rapid compression machine under engine relevant conditions and validated against the measured results of RP-3. Overall, la and K2 both exhibited good matching on the compositional characteristics, physical-chemical properties, and gas phase ignition behaviors with the target fuel. In contrast, the seven-component K2 was more competitive and more comprehensive. (C) 2019 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.