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 characterize experimentally the spectral radiation attenuation of water sprays, and is now widely used as a reference in the field. Since joining Kingston University in 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 15 PhD students in these areas. I am Director of Research and Enterprise for the School of Engineering, and lead the Fire and Fluid Dynamics research group at Kingston University. 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 enjoy teaching Thermofluids to undergraduate and postgraduate students.
School Director Research & Enterprise
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.
Dombrovsky, Leonid A. and Dembele, Siaka (2022) An improved solution for shielding of thermal radiation from fires using mist curtains of pure water or sea water. Computational Thermal Sciences, 14(4), pp. 1-18. ISSN (print) 1940-2503
Ukairo, Okorie, Dembele, Siaka, Heidari, Ali, Pretrel, Hugues and Wen, Jennifer (2021) Investigation of fires in a mechanically ventilated compartment using the CFD code FireFOAM Nuclear Engineering and Design. Nuclear Engineering and Design, 384, p. 111515. ISSN (print) 0029-5493
Dombrovsky, Leonid A., Levashov, Vladimir Yu., Kryukov, Alexei P., Dembele, Siaka and Wen, Jennifer X. (2020) A comparative analysis of shielding of thermal radiation of fires using mist curtains containing droplets of pure water or sea water. International Journal of Thermal Sciences, 152, p. 106299. ISSN (print) 1290-0729
Hubert, Antoine, Dembele, Siaka, Denissenko, Petr and Wen, Jennifer (2019) Predicting Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) rollovers using Computational Fluid Dynamics. Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, 62, p. 103922. ISSN (print) 0950-4230
Sikic, Ivan, Dembele, Siaka and Wen, Jennifer (2019) Non-grey radiative heat transfer modelling in LES-CFD simulated methanol pool fires. Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer, 234, pp. 78-89. ISSN (print) 0022-4073
Lyras, Konstantinos G., Dembele, Siaka and Wen, Jennifer X. (2019) Numerical simulation of flashing jets atomisation using a unified approach. International Journal of Multiphase Flow, 113, pp. 45-58. ISSN (print) 0301-9322
Dombrovsky, Leonid A., Dembele, Siaka, Wen, Jennifer X. and Sikic, Ivan (2018) Two-step method for radiative transfer calculations in a developing pool fire at the initial stage of its suppression by a water spray. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 127(B), pp. 717-726. ISSN (print) 0017-9310
Dombrovsky, Leonid A., Dembele, Siaka and Wen, Jennifer X. (2018) An infrared scattering by evaporating droplets at the initial stage of a pool fire suppression by water sprays. Infrared Physics & Technology, 91, pp. 55-62. ISSN (print) 1350-4495
Lyras, Konstantinos, Dembele, Siaka, Schmidt, David P. and Wen, Jennifer (2018) Numerical simulation of subcooled and superheated jets under thermodynamic non-equilibrium. International Journal of Multiphase Flow, 102, pp. 16-28. ISSN (print) 0301-9322
Lyras, Konstantinos, Dembele, Siaka, Vyazmina, Elena, Jallais, Simon and Wen, Jennifer (2018) Numerical simulation of flash-boiling through sharp-edged orifices. International Journal of Computational Methods and Experimental Measurements, 6(1), pp. 176-185. ISSN (print) 2046-0546
Dombrovsky, Leonid A., Dembele, Siaka and Wen, Jennifer (2016) A simplified model for the shielding of fire thermal radiation by water mists. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 96, pp. 199-209. ISSN (print) 0017-9310
Wang, C.J., Wen, J.X., chen, Z.B. and Dembele, S. (2014) Predicting radiative characteristics of hydrogen and hydrogen/methane jet fires using FireFOAM. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 39(35), pp. 20560-20569. ISSN (print) 0360-3199
Dembele, S. and Wen, J.X. (2014) Analysis of the screening of hydrogen flares and flames thermal radiation with water sprays. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 39(11), pp. 6146-6159. ISSN (print) 0360-3199
Chen, Zhibin, Wen, Jennifer, Xu, Baopeng and Dembele, Siaka (2014) Large eddy simulation of a medium-scale methanol pool fire using the extended eddy dissipation concept. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 70, pp. 389-408. ISSN (print) 0017-9310
Aghajani, Hamed, Dembele, Siaka and Wen, Jennifer (2014) Analysis of a semi-empirical sprinkler spray model. Fire Safety Journal, 64, pp. 1-11. ISSN (print) 0379-7112
Chen, Zhibin, Wen, Jennifer, Xu, Baopeng and Dembele, Siaka (2014) Extension of the eddy dissipation concept and smoke point soot model to the LES frame for fire simulations. Fire Safety Journal, 64, pp. 12-26. ISSN (print) 0379-7112
Wang, Qingsong, Chen, Haodong, Wang, Yu, Wen, Jennifer X., Dembele, Siaka, Sun, Jinhua and Le, Hingui (2014) Development of a dynamic model for crack propagation in glazing system under thermal loading. Fire Safety Journal, 63, pp. 113-124. ISSN (print) 0379-7112
Torabmostaedi, H., Zhang, T., Foot, P. J., Dembele, S. and Fernandez, C. (2013) Process control for the synthesis of ZrO2 nanoparticles using FSP at high production rate. Powder Technology, 246, pp. 419-433. ISSN (print) 0032-5910
Dembele, Siaka, Rosario, Ricardo A.F. and Wen, Jennifer X. (2012) Thermal breakage of window glass in room fires conditions - Analysis of some important parameters. Building and Environment, 54, pp. 61-70. ISSN (print) 0360-1323
Dembele, S., Lima, K. L. M. and Wen, J. X. (2011) Assessment of an unstructured exponential scheme discrete ordinates radiation model for non-gray media. Heat and Mass Transfer, 47(11), pp. 1349-1362. ISSN (print) 0947-7411
Dembele, S., Rosario, R.A.F., Wang, Q.S., Warren, P.D. and Wen, J.X. (2010) Thermal and stress analysis of glazing in fires and glass fracture modeling with a probabilistic approach. Numerical Heat Transfer Part B, 58(6), pp. 419-439. ISSN (print) 1040-7790
Xu, B.P., Wen, J. X., Dembele, S., Tam, V.H.Y. and Hawksworth, S.J. (2009) The effect of pressure boundary rupture rate on spontaneous ignition of pressurized hydrogen release. Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, 22(3), pp. 279-287. ISSN (print) 0950-4230
Zhang, J., Dembele, S. and Wen, J.X. (2009) Investigation of turbulence models for CFD simulations of gas and liquid pool fires. Journal of Fire Sciences, 27(2), pp. 157-182. ISSN (print) 0734-9041
Ferraris, S.A., Wen, J.X. and Dembele, S. (2008) Large eddy simulation of the backdraft phenomenon. Fire Safety Journal, 43(3), pp. 205-225. ISSN (print) 0379-7112
Dembele, S., Rosario, R.A.F. and Wen, J.X. (2007) Investigation of glazing behavior in a fire environment using a spectral discrete ordinates method for radiative heat transfer. Numerical Heat Transfer Part B, 52(6), pp. 489-506. ISSN (print) 1040-7790
Dembele, S., Zhang, J. and Wen, J.X. (2005) Assessments of spectral narrow band and weighted-sum-of-gray-gases models for computational fluid dynamics simulations of pool fires. Numerical Heat Transfer Part B, 48(3), pp. 257-276. ISSN (print) 1040-7790
Zhang, J., Dembele, S. and Wen, J.X. (2005) Effect of radiation models on CFD simulations of upward flame spread. Fire Safety Science, 8, pp. 421-432.
Ferraris, S., Wen, J.X. and Dembele, S. (2005) Large-eddy simulation of a large-scale methane pool fire. Fire Safety Science, 8, pp. 963-974.
Dembele, S. and Wen, J. (2005) Predicting Glazing Behaviour in a Fire Environment - Effect of Radiation Models. FABIG Newsletter, R570(45),
Magda, S.I., Ferraris, S.A., Wen, J.X., Dembele, S. and Karwatzki, J.M. (2004) Large eddy simulation of a backdraft with watermist. Journal of Applied Fire Science, 13(3), pp. 213-229. ISSN (print) 1044-4300
Dembele, S. and Wen, J.X. (2003) Evaluation of fast correlated-k approach for radiation calculations in combustion systems. Numerical Heat Transfer Part B, 44(4), pp. 365-385. ISSN (print) 1040-7790
Dembele, S. and Wen, J.X. (2003) Assessment of spectral narrow band and global gas radiation models for computational fluid dynamics simulations of pool fires. Numerical Heat Transfer - Part B: Fundamentals, 44(4), pp. 365-385. ISSN (print) 1040-7790
Dembele, S., Zhang, J. and Wen, J. X. (2003) Evaluation of the correlated-k and other gas radiation models for combustion applications. Proceedings of the Seventh International Symposium Fire Safety Science, 7, pp. 927-938.
Dembele, Siaka and Wen, Jennifer (2003) Predicting Glazing Behaviour in a Fire Environment – Effect of Radiation Heat Transfer Models. FABIG Newsletter(45), R570.
Dembele, S., Wen, Jennifer and Sacadura, J.-F. (2001) Experimental study of water sprays for the atttenuation of fire thermal radiation. Journal Of Heat Transfer, 123(3), pp. 534-543. ISSN (print) 0022-1481
Dembele, S. and Wen, J.X. (2000) Investigation of a spectral formulation for radiative heat transfer in one-dimensional fires and combustion systems. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 43(21), pp. 4019-4030. ISSN (print) 0017-9310
Dembele, S., Wen, JX and Sacadura, JF (2000) Analysis of the two-flux model for predicting water spray transmittance in fire protection application. Journal Of Heat Transfer, 122(1), pp. 183-186. ISSN (print) 0022-1481
Dembele, S. and Wen, J.X. (2000) Predicting the mass burning rates of liquid pool fires using CFD techniques. International Symposium on Combustion, Abstracts of Accepted Papers, B, p. 67. ISSN (print) 1540-7489
Dembele, S., Delmas, A. and Sacadura, JF (1997) A method for modeling the mitigation of hazardous fire thermal radiation by water spray curtains. Journal Of Heat Transfer, 119(4), pp. 746-753. ISSN (print) 0022-1481
Vasudevan, Sooraj P.M., Muppala, Siva, Madhov Rao, Vendra C., Heidari, Ali and Dembele, Siaka (2022) RANS studies of minimum ignition energy of stoichiometric laminar methane/air fuel mixtures. In: 16th International Combustion Symposium (INCOS) 2022; 8-10 Sep 2022, Aydin, Turkey. (Unpublished)
Dombrovsky, Leonid and Dembele, Siaka (2021) An improved solution for shielding of thermal radiation of fires using mist curtains of pure water or sea water. In: 8th International Symposium on Advances in Computational Heat Transfer, CHT 2021; 15-19 Aug 2021, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (held online).
Vasudevan, Sooraj PM, Muppala, Siva PR, Vendra, C. Madhav Rao, Heidari, Ali and Dembele, Siaka (2021) Analytical study of minimum ignition energy of single and dual fuels : a short review. In: 10th European Combustion Meeting (ECM); 14-15 Apr 2021, Napoli, Italy (Held online).
Dombrovsky, Leonid, Dembele, Siaka, Wen, Jennifer X. and Sikic, Ivan (2018) Two-step iterative method for radiative transfer calculations in axisymmetric flames containing absorbing and scattering particles. In: 16th International Heat Transfer Conference; 10 - 15 Aug 2018, Beijing, China. (Unpublished)
Dombrovskiy, Leonid, Dembele, Siaka, Wen, Jennifer and Sikic, Ivan (2018) Suppression of pool fires by water sprays : the effect of light scattering by evaporating droplets. In: Eurotherm Seminar No. 110 Computational Thermal Regulation in Participating Media VI; 11 - 13 Apr 2018, Cascais, Portugal. (Unpublished)
Alam, Maqsood, Dembele, Siaka, Madhav Rao, Vendra C. and Wen, Jennifer (2016) Numerical prediction of liquid pool fires burning rate with a CFD approach. In: Interflam 2016 : 14th International International Conference and Exhibition on Fire Science and Engineering; 04 - 06 Jul 2016, Windsor, U.K..
Udechukwu, Izunna, Dembele, Siaka, Heidari, Ali, Volkov, Konstantin and Wen, Jennifer (2014) Investigation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) dispersion using computational fluid dynamics. In: 6th. European Conference on Computational Fluid Dynamics (ECFD VI); 20-25 Jul 2014, Barcelona, Spain.
Udechukwu, Izunna D, Dembele, Siaka, Heidari, Ali, Volkov, Konstantin N and Wen, Jennifer X (2014) Computational fluid dynamics simulation of LNG dispersion using openFOAM. In: 22nd Annual Conference of the CFD Society of Canada; 1-4 Jun 2014, Toronto, Canada.
Dembele, S, Aghajani, H and Wen, J (2013) Theoretical modelling of sprinkler sprays. In: Interflam2013 : 13th International Fire Science & Engineering Conference; 24 - 26 Jun 2013, London, U.K..
Aghajani, Hamed, Dembele, Siaka and Wen, Jennifer (2013) Modelling of Sprinkler Sprays using Deterministic and Stochastic Approaches. In: 7th International Seminar on Fire and Explosion Hazards (ISFEH); 5 – 10 May 2013, Providence, USA. ISBN 9789810759407
Aghajani, Hamed, Dembele, Siaka and Wen, Jennifer (2011) Modeling sprinkler sprays. In: FM Global Open Source CFD Fire Modelling Workshop 2011; 9-10 May 2011, Norwood, USA. (Unpublished)
Chen, Zhibin, Wen, Jennifer, Xu, Baopeng and Dembele, Siaka (2011) Large eddy simulation of fire dynamics with the improved eddy dissipation concept. In: 10th International IAFSS Symposium; 19-24 June 2011, Maryland, USA. (Unpublished)
Chen, Z.B., Wen, J.X., Xu, B.P. and Dembele, S. (2011) The extension of the eddy dissipation concept (EDC) to the LES framework in FireFOAM. In: FM Global Open Source CFD Fire Modeling Workshop; 9-10 May 2011, Norwood, USA. (Unpublished)
Dembele, S., Rosario, R., Wen, J.X., Williams, I. and Warren, P. D. (2010) Thermal and stress analysis of glazing systems under fire conditions. In: 12th International Fire Science & Engineering Conference (INTERFLAM 2010); 5-7 Jul 2010, Nottingham, U.K..
Xu, B.P., Chen, Z.B., Wen, J.X., Zhubrin, S., Dembele, S., Wang, Y. and Dorofeev, S. (2010) Large eddy simulation of a one meter diameter methane fire using the extended discrete reaction model. In: Sixth International Seminar on Fire and Explosion Hazards; 11-16 April 2010, Leeds, UK. (Unpublished)
Wen, Jennifer, Dembele, Siaka, Yang, Manjiang, Tam, Vincent and Wang, Jian (2008) Numerical investigation on the effectiveness of water spray deluge in providing cooling, smoke dilution and radiation attenuation in fires. In: Ninth International Symposium on Fire Safety Science; 21 - 26 Sept 2008, Karlsruhe, Germany.
Wen, J.X., Xu, B.P., Dembele, S., Tam, V.H.Y. and Hawksworth, S.J. (2008) Numerical study on spontaneous ignition of direct release of pressurized hydrogen into air. In: 20th NHA Annual Hydrogen Conference; 30 Mar - 2 Apr 2008, Sacramento, USA. (20th NHA Annual Hydrogen Conference 2008)
Xu, Baopeng, Wen, Jennifer, Dembele, Siaka and Tam, Vincent (2008) Predicting spontaneous ignition of under-expanded hydrogen jets: the issue of numerical accuracy. In: Thirty-Second International Symposium on Combustion; 03 - 08 Aug 2008, Montreal, Canada. (Unpublished)
Wen, J. X., Xu, B., Dembele, S. and Tam, V. H. Y. (2008) The effect of pressure boundary rupture rate on the spontaneous ignition of pressurized hydrogen release. In: Seventh International Symposium on Hazards, Prevention, and Mitigation of Industrial Explosions; 7-11 Jul 2008, St Petersburg, Russia. (Unpublished)
Dembele, S., Tam, V.H.Y., Ferraris, S., Rosario, A.F. and Wen, J.X. (2007) Effectiveness of water deluge in fire suppression and mitigation. In: 12th International Symposium on Loss Prevention and Safety Promotion in the Process Industries; 22-24 May 2007, Edinburgh, Scotland. (Institution of Chemical Engineers Symposium Series, no. 153) ISBN 9780852955086
Zhang, J, Zu, B.P., Dembele, S. and Wen, J.X. (2007) Exploratory study of under-expanded sonic hydrogen jets and the resulting jet flames. In: 5th International Seminar on Fire and Explosion Hazards; April 2007, Edinburgh, UK.
Dembele, S., Zhang, J. and Wen, J. (2007) Exploratory study of underexpanded sonic hydrogen jets. In: 5th International Seminar on Fire and Explosion Hazards; 23-27 Apr 2007, Edinburgh, UK. (Proceedings of the 5th International Seminar on Fire and Explosion Hazards)
Xu, B.P, Zhang, J.P., Wen, J.X., Dembele, S. and Karwatzki, J. (2005) Numerical study of a highly under-expanded hydrogen jet. In: International Conference on Hydrogen Safety; 8-10 September 2005, Pisa, Italy. (Unpublished)
Zhang, J., Ferraris, S., Dembele, S., Wen, J., Goransson, U., Petersson, P. and Holmstedt, G (2004) Numerical and experimental investigation of flame spread over a PMMA surface. In: Fire Science and Engineering Conference; Interflam 2004; 5-7 July 2004, Edinburgh, Scotland. ISBN 0954121635
Dembele, S, Delmas, A and Sacadura, JF (1996) Shielding fire thermal radiation by water spray curtains: some improvements in radiative transfer modelling. In: Industrial Fires III Proceedings; 17-18 Sep 1996, Roskilde, Denmark. (EUR 17477) ISBN 8755022871
I have been the Director of Research and Enterprise for the School of Engineering 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.
Kingston University, River House, 53–57 High Street, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT1 1LQ. Tel: +44 (0)20 8417 9000