An experimental study of the effects of spark power and of incomplete fuel-air mixing on spark-ignited flame kernel growth was conducted in turbulent propane-air mixtures at 1 atm, 300K conditions. The results showed that increased spark power resulted in an increased growth rate, where the effect of short duration breakdown sparks was found to persist for times of the order of milliseconds. The effectiveness of increased spark power was found to be less at high turbulence and high dilution conditions. Increased spark power had a greater effect on the 0-5 mm burn time than on the 5-13 mm burn time, in part because of the effect of breakdown energy on the initial size of the flame kernel. And finally, when spark power was increased by shortening the spark duration while keeping the effective energy the same there was a significant increase in the misfire rate, however when the spark power was further increased by increasing the breakdown energy the misfire rate dropped to zero. The results also showed that fluctuations in local mixture strength due to incomplete fuel-air mixing cause the flame kernel surface to become wrinkled and distorted; and that the amount of wrinkling increases as the degree ofmore » incomplete fuel-air mixing increases. Incomplete fuel-air mixing was also found to result in a significant increase in cyclic variations in the flame kernel growth. The average flame kernel growth rates for the premixed and the incompletely mixed cases were found to be within the experimental uncertainty except for the 33%-RMS-fluctuation case where the growth rate was significantly lower. The premixed and 6%-RMS-fluctuation cases had a 0% misfire rate. The misfire rates were 1% and 2% for the 13%-RMS-fluctuation and 24%-RMS-fluctuation cases, respectively; however, it drastically increased to 23% in the 33%-RMS-fluctuation case.« less