Investigation on ignition and flame propagation of pyrolyzing fuel in a cylindrical enclosure is accomplished. The pyrolyzing fuel of cylindrical shape is located in an outer cylinder sustained at high-temperature. Due to gravity, the buoyancy motion is inevitably incurred in the enclosure and this affects the flame initiation and propagation behavior. The radiative heat transfer plays an important role since a high temperature difference is involved in the problem. Therefore in all cases presented here, the intrinsic radiation effects are considered. Numerical studies have been performed over various governing parameters, such as Grashof number, overheat ratio, and vertical fuel eccentricity. Depending on the Grashof number, the flame behavior is found to be totally different: a separated visible flame appears as the Grashof number reaches 10(sup)7. The location of flame onset is also affected by the vertical eccentricity of inner pyrolyzing fuel as well as thermal conditions applied.