Dr Siaka Dembele
Faculties, departments and locations
- Faculty of Engineering, Computing and the Environment
- Department of Mechanical Engineering
- School of Engineering
- Roehampton Vale
School Director of Research and Enterprise & Associate Professor
- Email:
- [email protected]
About
I am an Associate Professor of Thermofluids. I was awarded a PhD in Thermal and Energy Engineering in 1998 from the leading Engineering Institute INSA (Lyon, France) for research on fire thermal radiation attenuation by water sprays. My PhD work, funded by the European Commission and the oil and gas industry, was the first to characterise experimentally the spectral radiation attenuation of water sprays, and is now widely used as a reference in the field.
Since joining Kingston Universityin 1998, I have been involved in many research projects related to fires, heat transfer and fluid dynamics as principal and co-investigator. I have successfully supervised to completion over a dozen of PhD students in these areas. I am Director of Research and Enterprise for the Schools of Engineering, Built Environment and Geography, and lead the Fire and Fluid Dynamics research group at ÖØ¿ÚζSM. I sit as elected member in both the Executive Committee of the International Centre for Heat and Mass Transfer (ICHMT), and the Scientific Council of the International Water Mist Association (IWMA). I am passionate about teaching Thermofluids to undergraduate and postgraduate students.
Qualifications
- PhD, Institut National des Sciences Appliquees (INSA)-Lyon (France)
- MSc, University Claude Bernard Lyon 1 - Lyon (France)
- MEng Degree, Mechanical Engineering - Engineering Institute Ecole Nationale Superieure des Ingenieurs d'Abidjan (ENSIA) - Ivory Coast/Côte d'Ivoire
- Fellow Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
Domains
Qualifications
- Fellow Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
- Thermodynamics - Heat Transfer
- Fluid mechanics - Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
Courses taught
My main research interests are in fire modelling (pool and jet fires) with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach, fire protection and suppression with water sprays, sprinklers and water mist systems. I also conduct research in thermal radiation heat transfer in high temperature environments such as fires, and the behaviour of glass under fire conditions. From my background, I have some interests in energy related topics.
Qualifications
- PhD in Thermal and Energy Engineering
Specialisms
- Fire modelling and simulation with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
- Radiation heat transfer and gas radiation modelling in high temperature environments
- Fire suppression by water sprinklers, water sprays and water mist
- Modelling spray formation in sprinklers and mists
- Glazing behaviour in fires
Professional and scholarly affiliations
- Elected Member of the Executive Committee - International Centre for Heat and Mass Transfer (ICHMT)
- Elected Member of the Scientific Council - International Water Mist Association (IWMA)
- Member of the Peer Review College - EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council)
- Member of the International Association for Fire Safety Sciences (IAFSS)
- Member of the UK Heat Transfer Society
I have been the Director of Research and Enterprise for the Schools of Engineering, and Built Environment and Geography since April 2022. I am also currently the University REF (Research Excellence Framework) Coordinator for Unit of Assessment 12 (Engineering). In these roles, I am closely involved in the management of research and enterprise activities in the University.
University responsibilities
- School Director of Research and Enterprise
- Coordinator for Kingston UniversityREF Unit of Assessment UoA12 - Engineering
- Member ECE Faculty Research and Knowledge Exchange Coordination team
Publications
Advancing the prediction of evaporation rate of liquid pool fires in mechanically ventilated compartments using computational fluid dynamics
Ukairo, Okorie, Dembele, Siaka, Heidari, Ali, Pretrel, Hugues and Volkov, Konstantin, 2025, Fire Technology
An improved solution for shielding of thermal radiation from fires using mist curtains of pure water or sea water
Dombrovsky, Leonid A. and Dembele, Siaka, 2022, Computational Thermal Sciences (14), 4, pp 1-18
Investigation of fires in a mechanically ventilated compartment using the CFD code FireFOAM Nuclear Engineering and Design
Ukairo, Okorie, Dembele, Siaka, Heidari, Ali, Pretrel, Hugues and Wen, Jennifer, 2021, Nuclear Engineering and Design (384), pp 111515
A comparative analysis of shielding of thermal radiation of fires using mist curtains containing droplets of pure water or sea water
Dombrovsky, Leonid A., Levashov, Vladimir Yu., Kryukov, Alexei P., Dembele, Siaka and Wen, Jennifer X., 2020, International Journal of Thermal Sciences (152), pp 106299
Predicting Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) rollovers using Computational Fluid Dynamics
Hubert, Antoine, Dembele, Siaka, Denissenko, Petr and Wen, Jennifer, 2019, Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries (62), pp 103922
Non-grey radiative heat transfer modelling in LES-CFD simulated methanol pool fires
Sikic, Ivan, Dembele, Siaka and Wen, Jennifer, 2019, Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer (234), pp 78-89
Numerical simulation of flashing jets atomisation using a unified approach
Lyras, Konstantinos G., Dembele, Siaka and Wen, Jennifer X., 2019, International Journal of Multiphase Flow (113), pp 45-58
Two-step method for radiative transfer calculations in a developing pool fire at the initial stage of its suppression by a water spray
Dombrovsky, Leonid A., Dembele, Siaka, Wen, Jennifer X. and Sikic, Ivan, 2018, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer (127), B, pp 717-726
An infrared scattering by evaporating droplets at the initial stage of a pool fire suppression by water sprays
Dombrovsky, Leonid A., Dembele, Siaka and Wen, Jennifer X., 2018, (91), pp 55-62
Numerical simulation of subcooled and superheated jets under thermodynamic non-equilibrium
Lyras, Konstantinos, Dembele, Siaka, Schmidt, David P. and Wen, Jennifer, 2018, International Journal of Multiphase Flow (102), pp 16-28
Numerical simulation of flash-boiling through sharp-edged orifices
Lyras, Konstantinos, Dembele, Siaka, Vyazmina, Elena, Jallais, Simon and Wen, Jennifer, 2018, International Journal of Computational Methods and Experimental Measurements (6), 1, pp 176-185
A simplified model for the shielding of fire thermal radiation by water mists
Dombrovsky, Leonid A., Dembele, Siaka and Wen, Jennifer, 2016, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer (96), pp 199-209
Predicting radiative characteristics of hydrogen and hydrogen/methane jet fires using FireFOAM
Wang, C.J., Wen, J.X., chen, Z.B. and Dembele, S., 2014, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (39), 35, pp 20560-20569
Analysis of the screening of hydrogen flares and flames thermal radiation with water sprays
Dembele, S. and Wen, J.X., 2014, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (39), 11, pp 6146-6159
Large eddy simulation of a medium-scale methanol pool fire using the extended eddy dissipation concept
Chen, Zhibin, Wen, Jennifer, Xu, Baopeng and Dembele, Siaka, 2014, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer (70), pp 389-408
Analysis of a semi-empirical sprinkler spray model
Aghajani, Hamed, Dembele, Siaka and Wen, Jennifer, 2014, Fire Safety Journal (64), pp 1-11
Extension of the eddy dissipation concept and smoke point soot model to the LES frame for fire simulations
Chen, Zhibin, Wen, Jennifer, Xu, Baopeng and Dembele, Siaka, 2014, Fire Safety Journal (64), pp 12-26
Development of a dynamic model for crack propagation in glazing system under thermal loading
Wang, Qingsong, Chen, Haodong, Wang, Yu, Wen, Jennifer X., Dembele, Siaka, Sun, Jinhua and Le, Hingui, 2014, Fire Safety Journal (63), pp 113-124
Process control for the synthesis of ZrO2 nanoparticles using FSP at high production rate
Torabmostaedi, H., Zhang, T., Foot, P. J., Dembele, S. and Fernandez, C., 2013, Powder Technology (246), pp 419-433
Thermal breakage of window glass in room fires conditions - Analysis of some important parameters
Dembele, Siaka, Rosario, Ricardo A.F. and Wen, Jennifer X., 2012, Building and Environment (54), pp 61-70
Assessment of an unstructured exponential scheme discrete ordinates radiation model for non-gray media
Dembele, S., Lima, K. L. M. and Wen, J. X., 2011, Heat and Mass Transfer (47), 11, pp 1349-1362
Thermal and stress analysis of glazing in fires and glass fracture modeling with a probabilistic approach
Dembele, S., Rosario, R.A.F., Wang, Q.S., Warren, P.D. and Wen, J.X., 2010, Numerical Heat Transfer Part B (58), 6, pp 419-439
The effect of pressure boundary rupture rate on spontaneous ignition of pressurized hydrogen release
Xu, B.P., Wen, J. X., Dembele, S., Tam, V.H.Y. and Hawksworth, S.J., 2009, Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries (22), 3, pp 279-287
Investigation of turbulence models for CFD simulations of gas and liquid pool fires
Zhang, J., Dembele, S. and Wen, J.X., 2009, Journal of Fire Sciences (27), 2, pp 157-182
Large eddy simulation of the backdraft phenomenon
Ferraris, S.A., Wen, J.X. and Dembele, S., 2008, Fire Safety Journal (43), 3, pp 205-225
Investigation of glazing behavior in a fire environment using a spectral discrete ordinates method for radiative heat transfer
Dembele, S., Rosario, R.A.F. and Wen, J.X., 2007, Numerical Heat Transfer Part B (52), 6, pp 489-506
Assessments of spectral narrow band and weighted-sum-of-gray-gases models for computational fluid dynamics simulations of pool fires
Dembele, S., Zhang, J. and Wen, J.X., 2005, Numerical Heat Transfer Part B (48), 3, pp 257-276
Effect of radiation models on CFD simulations of upward flame spread
Zhang, J., Dembele, S. and Wen, J.X., 2005, Fire Safety Science (8), pp 421-432
Large-eddy simulation of a large-scale methane pool fire
Ferraris, S., Wen, J.X. and Dembele, S., 2005, Fire Safety Science (8), pp 963-974
Predicting Glazing Behaviour in a Fire Environment - Effect of Radiation Models
Dembele, S. and Wen, J., 2005, FABIG Newsletter (R570), 45
Large eddy simulation of a backdraft with watermist
Magda, S.I., Ferraris, S.A., Wen, J.X., Dembele, S. and Karwatzki, J.M., 2004, Journal of Applied Fire Science (13), 3, pp 213-229
Evaluation of fast correlated-k approach for radiation calculations in combustion systems
Dembele, S. and Wen, J.X., 2003, Numerical Heat Transfer Part B (44), 4, pp 365-385
Assessment of spectral narrow band and global gas radiation models for computational fluid dynamics simulations of pool fires
Dembele, S. and Wen, J.X., 2003, Numerical Heat Transfer - Part B: Fundamentals (44), 4, pp 365-385
Evaluation of the correlated-k and other gas radiation models for combustion applications
Dembele, S., Zhang, J. and Wen, J. X., 2003, Proceedings of the Seventh International Symposium Fire Safety Science (7), pp 927-938
Predicting Glazing Behaviour in a Fire Environment – Effect of Radiation Heat Transfer Models
Dembele, Siaka and Wen, Jennifer, 2003, FABIG Newsletter, 45, pp R570
Experimental study of water sprays for the atttenuation of fire thermal radiation
Dembele, S., Wen, Jennifer and Sacadura, J.-F., 2001, Journal Of Heat Transfer (123), 3, pp 534-543
Investigation of a spectral formulation for radiative heat transfer in one-dimensional fires and combustion systems
Dembele, S. and Wen, J.X., 2000, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer (43), 21, pp 4019-4030
Analysis of the two-flux model for predicting water spray transmittance in fire protection application
Dembele, S., Wen, JX and Sacadura, JF, 2000, Journal Of Heat Transfer (122), 1, pp 183-186
Predicting the mass burning rates of liquid pool fires using CFD techniques
Dembele, S. and Wen, J.X., 2000, International Symposium on Combustion, Abstracts of Accepted Papers (B), pp 67
A method for modeling the mitigation of hazardous fire thermal radiation by water spray curtains
Dembele, S., Delmas, A. and Sacadura, JF, 1997, Journal Of Heat Transfer (119), 4, pp 746-753
RANS studies of minimum ignition energy of stoichiometric laminar methane/air fuel mixtures
Vasudevan, Sooraj P.M., Muppala, Siva, Madhov Rao, Vendra C., Heidari, Ali and Dembele, Siaka(2022). In: 16th International Combustion Symposium (INCOS) 2022, 8-10 Sep 2022 :Aydin, Turkey
An improved solution for shielding of thermal radiation of fires using mist curtains of pure water or sea water
Dombrovsky, Leonid and Dembele, Siaka(2021). In: 8th International Symposium on Advances in Computational Heat Transfer, CHT 2021, 15-19 Aug 2021 :Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (held online)
Analytical study of minimum ignition energy of single and dual fuels : a short review
Vasudevan, Sooraj PM, Muppala, Siva PR, Vendra, C. Madhav Rao, Heidari, Ali and Dembele, Siaka(2021). In: 10th European Combustion Meeting (ECM), 14-15 Apr 2021 :Napoli, Italy (Held online)
Two-step iterative method for radiative transfer calculations in axisymmetric flames containing absorbing and scattering particles
Dombrovsky, Leonid, Dembele, Siaka, Wen, Jennifer X. and Sikic, Ivan(2018). In: 16th International Heat Transfer Conference, 10 - 15 Aug 2018 :Beijing, China
Suppression of pool fires by water sprays : the effect of light scattering by evaporating droplets
Dombrovskiy, Leonid, Dembele, Siaka, Wen, Jennifer and Sikic, Ivan(2018). In: Eurotherm Seminar No. 110 Computational Thermal Regulation in Participating Media VI, 11 - 13 Apr 2018 :Cascais, Portugal
Numerical prediction of liquid pool fires burning rate with a CFD approach
Alam, Maqsood, Dembele, Siaka, Madhav Rao, Vendra C. and Wen, Jennifer(2016). In: Interflam 2016 : 14th International International Conference and Exhibition on Fire Science and Engineering, 04 - 06 Jul 2016 :Windsor, U.K.
Investigation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) dispersion using computational fluid dynamics
Udechukwu, Izunna, Dembele, Siaka, Heidari, Ali, Volkov, Konstantin and Wen, Jennifer(2014). In: 6th. European Conference on Computational Fluid Dynamics (ECFD VI), 20-25 Jul 2014 :Barcelona, Spain
Computational fluid dynamics simulation of LNG dispersion using openFOAM
Udechukwu, Izunna D, Dembele, Siaka, Heidari, Ali, Volkov, Konstantin N and Wen, Jennifer X(2014). In: 22nd Annual Conference of the CFD Society of Canada, 1-4 Jun 2014 :Toronto, Canada
Theoretical modelling of sprinkler sprays
Dembele, S, Aghajani, H and Wen, J(2013). 24 - 26 Jun 2013 : London, U.K.
Modelling of Sprinkler Sprays using Deterministic and Stochastic Approaches
Aghajani, Hamed, Dembele, Siaka and Wen, Jennifer(2013). In: 7th International Seminar on Fire and Explosion Hazards (ISFEH), 5 – 10 May 2013 :Providence, USA
Modeling sprinkler sprays
Aghajani, Hamed, Dembele, Siaka and Wen, Jennifer(2011). In: FM Global Open Source CFD Fire Modelling Workshop 2011, 9-10 May 2011 :Norwood, USA
Large eddy simulation of fire dynamics with the improved eddy dissipation concept
Chen, Zhibin, Wen, Jennifer, Xu, Baopeng and Dembele, Siaka(2011). In: 10th International IAFSS Symposium, 19-24 June 2011 :Maryland, USA
The extension of the eddy dissipation concept (EDC) to the LES framework in FireFOAM
Chen, Z.B., Wen, J.X., Xu, B.P. and Dembele, S.(2011). In: FM Global Open Source CFD Fire Modeling Workshop, 9-10 May 2011 :Norwood, USA
Thermal and stress analysis of glazing systems under fire conditions
Dembele, S., Rosario, R., Wen, J.X., Williams, I. and Warren, P. D.(2010). 5-7 Jul 2010 : Nottingham, U.K.
Large eddy simulation of a one meter diameter methane fire using the extended discrete reaction model
Xu, B.P., Chen, Z.B., Wen, J.X., Zhubrin, S., Dembele, S., Wang, Y. and Dorofeev, S.(2010). In: Sixth International Seminar on Fire and Explosion Hazards, 11-16 April 2010 :Leeds, UK
Numerical investigation on the effectiveness of water spray deluge in providing cooling, smoke dilution and radiation attenuation in fires
Wen, Jennifer, Dembele, Siaka, Yang, Manjiang, Tam, Vincent and Wang, Jian(2008). In: Ninth International Symposium on Fire Safety Science, 21 - 26 Sept 2008 :Karlsruhe, Germany
Numerical study on spontaneous ignition of direct release of pressurized hydrogen into air
Wen, J.X., Xu, B.P., Dembele, S., Tam, V.H.Y. and Hawksworth, S.J.(2008). In: 20th NHA Annual Hydrogen Conference, 30 Mar - 2 Apr 2008 :Sacramento, USA
Predicting spontaneous ignition of under-expanded hydrogen jets: the issue of numerical accuracy
Xu, Baopeng, Wen, Jennifer, Dembele, Siaka and Tam, Vincent(2008). In: Thirty-Second International Symposium on Combustion, 03 - 08 Aug 2008 :Montreal, Canada
The effect of pressure boundary rupture rate on the spontaneous ignition of pressurized hydrogen release
Wen, J. X., Xu, B., Dembele, S. and Tam, V. H. Y.(2008). In: Seventh International Symposium on Hazards, Prevention, and Mitigation of Industrial Explosions, 7-11 Jul 2008 :St Petersburg, Russia
Effectiveness of water deluge in fire suppression and mitigation
Dembele, S., Tam, V.H.Y., Ferraris, S., Rosario, A.F. and Wen, J.X.(2007). In: 12th International Symposium on Loss Prevention and Safety Promotion in the Process Industries, 22-24 May 2007 :Edinburgh, Scotland
Exploratory study of under-expanded sonic hydrogen jets and the resulting jet flames
Zhang, J, Zu, B.P., Dembele, S. and Wen, J.X.(2007). In: 5th International Seminar on Fire and Explosion Hazards, April 2007 :Edinburgh, UK
Exploratory study of underexpanded sonic hydrogen jets
Dembele, S., Zhang, J. and Wen, J.(2007). In: 5th International Seminar on Fire and Explosion Hazards, 23-27 Apr 2007 :Edinburgh, UK
Numerical study of a highly under-expanded hydrogen jet
Xu, B.P, Zhang, J.P., Wen, J.X., Dembele, S. and Karwatzki, J.(2005). In: International Conference on Hydrogen Safety, 8-10 September 2005 :Pisa, Italy
Numerical and experimental investigation of flame spread over a PMMA surface
Zhang, J., Ferraris, S., Dembele, S., Wen, J., Goransson, U., Petersson, P. and Holmstedt, G(2004). In: Fire Science and Engineering Conference; Interflam 2004, 5-7 July 2004 :Edinburgh, Scotland
Shielding fire thermal radiation by water spray curtains: some improvements in radiative transfer modelling
Dembele, S, Delmas, A and Sacadura, JF(1996). In: Industrial Fires III Proceedings, 17-18 Sep 1996 :Roskilde, Denmark