This paper assesses the accuracy of partially-premixed turbulent combustion models based on the tabulation of chemical kinetics, under multiinjection Diesel engine-relevant conditions. For this purpose, 2-D direct numerical simulation (DNS) is carried out. Pockets of gaseous n-heptane are randomly distributed in a turbulent field of a partially burnt n-heptane/air mixture. The burnt gases composition and enthalpy correspond to the partial oxidation of a pilot injection that precedes the main injection, represented here by the fresh fuel pockets. The DNS domain is enclosed in a larger volume, permitting quasi-constant pressure autoignition. Chemical kinetics is modeled by a 29-species skeletal reaction mechanism for n-heptane/air mixture autoignition and flame propagation. A homogeneous isotropic turbulence spectrum is used to initialize the velocity field in the domain. A DNS database is generated varying the progress of the pilot injection combustion c 0 and the velocity fluctuation level u of the turbulence spectrum. Three different modeling approaches are tested a priori against the DNS data: (1) the Tabulated Ho-