To investigate the combustion performance of RP-3 aviation kerosene, n-decane was chosen as a one-component surrogate fuel. Sensitivity analysis and the reaction-path analysis method were used to simplify the detailed reaction mechanism of n-decane, and a simplified mechanism including 36 species and 62 elementary reaction steps was obtained. A Bunsen burner for the combustion of premixed, pre-evaporated RP-3 aviation kerosene was designed to verify the simplified mechanism, and the temperature and gas component concentrations in the axial and radial directions at different heights were measured. The combustion process of the premixed, pre-evaporated RP-3 aviation kerosene in the Bunsen burner was also simulated on the basis of the simplified mechanism, and the numerical results were compared to the experimental data. The results show that the simulated distributions of the temperature and O-2 concentration are in good agreement with the experimental data in all cases. In addition, the simulated distribution of the CO2 concentration is in general agreement with the experimental data. Thus, the simplified mechanism can accurately predict the trend in the CO2 concentration near the outer flame. Therefore, n-decane can be used as a one-component surrogate fuel for RP-3 aviation kerosene, and the simplified mechanism of n-decane with 36 species and 62 elementary reaction steps can accurately predict the combustion performance of RP-3 aviation kerosene over a wide range of conditions.