Comprehensive regime diagrams of flame pattern formation in radial microchannels with temperature gradients were drawn based on experimental findings. A premixed methane-air mixture was introduced at the center of microchannels formed by two parallel circular quartz plates that were heated with an external porous burner to create a positive temperature gradient condition in the direction of flow. Combustion behavior in those microchannels at channel widths of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, and 3.0 mm were experimentally investigated. Regime diagrams of various stable and unstable flame patterns were obtained, confirming that the flame pattern is a strong function of mixture equivalence ratio, inlet mixture velocity, and channel width. Furthermore, some combustion characteristics, such as the rotating frequency of the single pelton-like flame and the triple flame, the radius of the stable circular flame front, and comparison between the major combustion products of the single and double pelton-like flames, were also investigated. (c) 2007 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.