Using a high pressure constant volume combustion vessel, the propagation and morphology of spark-ignited outwardly expanding nitrogen diluted propane-air flames were imaged and recorded by schlieren photography and high-speed digital camera. The unstretched laminar burning velocities and Markstein lengths were subsequently determined over wide range of initial temperatures, initial pressures and nitrogen dilution ratios. Two recently developed mechanisms were used to predict the reference laminar burning velocity. The results show that the measured unstretched laminar burning velocities agree well with those in the literature and the computationally predicted results. The flame images show that the diffusional-thermal instability is promoted as the mixture becomes richer, and the hydrodynamic instability is increased with the increase of the initial pressure and it is decreased with the increase of dilution ratio. The normalized laminar burning velocities show a linear correlation with respect to the dilution ratio, indicating that the effect of nitrogen dilution is more obvious at higher pressures. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.