The effects of partial premixing on locally rich, near-stoichiometric, and lead flame regions were investigated in stratified, iso-octane/air turbulent V-flames by varying the mean equivalence ratio gradient along the exit plane of a rectangular slot burner. Instantaneous heat release rate (HRR) images were obtained from the product of spatially registered, near-simultaneously acquired OH and CH2O planar laser induced fluorescence (PLIF) images. HRR data were analyzed within a region of interest (ROI) that was determined from separate 3-pentanone tracer PLIF measurements. The ROI was unique to each gradient flame setting, and was configured to ensure the mean range of equivalence ratios being analyzed was constant among gradient conditions. This allowed distinction of the effects of mean equivalence ratio gradient at the flame front from effects associated with having different ranges of equivalence ratios within the flame zone. Individual flame realizations were studied for differences in the local peak HRR and instantaneous flame thickness delta(t) as they varied with curvature among gradient conditions. While general trends for the fully-premixed cases were consistent with Lewis number theory, subtle changes in the normalized distribution of local peak HRR vs. curvature were observed for locally rich and locally lean flames propagating in different mean 0 gradients. Negligible changes were observed for near-stoichiometric flames, suggesting that gradient effects may influence the local thermodiffusive stability of off-stoichiometric mixtures more significantly. Ensemble averages of individual peak HRR and delta(t) values within each ROI were separately evaluated, and differences among gradient conditions were greater than those observed for the normalized distributions with curvature. For all flame settings considered, an increase in either of the peak HRR or delta(t) led to a decrease in the other. Gradient effects were observed when comparing back- and front-supported locally rich flames, which experienced opposite changes in peak HRR of +10.1% and -5.2% for gradient settings partial derivative phi/partial derivative y = -0.014 mm(-1) and partial derivative phi/partial derivative y = 0.012 mm-1 respectively, coupled with a thinning and thickening of delta(t) of -7.2% and +2.4%. Similar but weaker trends were observed for near-stoichiometric flame regions, with a decrease in peak HRR of up to -3.5% and a thickening up to +2.8% for the steepest gradient partial derivative phi/partial derivative y = 0.029 mm(-1). Locally lean flames showed small increases in peak HRR of up to +3.8%, and decreases in delta(t) of up to -2.1% for back-supported gradient case partial derivative phi/partial derivative y = 0.024 mm(-1), however, variations were not as significant as those observed for back-supported rich flame regions of equivalent gradients. The presented results show that mean gradients of equivalence ratio can alter the local characteristics of partially premixed flames. Through subtle differences in the local distribution of peak HRR with curvature, more pronounced variations in the magnitude of the mean local peak HRR and delta(t), and opposing effects in both peak HRR and delta(t) for back- and front-supported rich flames, the data reveal the specific influence of equivalence ratio gradients in experiments where the mean range of equivalence ratios in the analysis region is fixed. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of The Combustion Institute. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license.