The characteristics of hydrogen/air flame were studied by using the spherical expanding flame propagated in a constant volume chamber. The influence of ignition induced blast wave and the flame instability on flame propagation was investigated. The nonlinear evaluation method for laminar flame parameter evaluation was established. By using the nonlinear evaluation method and the experimental results of flame propagation, the laminar flame speed and Markstein length were extracted and the difference between the nonlinearly evaluated laminar flame speed and the linearly evaluated one was analyzed. The influence of initial pressure and equivalence ratio on laminar flame speed and flame thickness was investigated. The laminar flame speed varies with equivalence ratio and initial pressure. There exists an equivalence ratio at which the laminar flame speed gets its maximum value. And there also exists an initial pressure at which the laminar flame speed gets its maximum value. The critical radius, Markstein length and flame instability of hydrogen/air flame with different equivalence ratio at different initial pressure had been studied. In hydrogen/air flame the flame stability decreases with the increase of initial pressure, while it increases with the increase of equivalence ratio. The global stability of flame is determined by the combination of the stabilizing effect of stretch effect, thermodiffusive instability mechanism and hydrodynamic instability mechanism. (C) 2018 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.