Cecile Devaud

Cecile Devaud is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering at the University of Waterloo's Faculty of Engineering. She leads the Turbulent Combustion Modeling Lab and is affiliated with Waterloo Engineering’s Fire Research Group and the Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy. Her research focuses on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for turbulent reacting flows, with applications in fire safety, automotive engineering, and sustainable energy systems. She holds a PhD in Turbulent Combustion from the University of Cambridge and has pioneered advancements in CFD modeling techniques like Conditional Source-term Estimation (CSE).

Education:

• 1999: Doctorate in Turbulent Combustion, University of Cambridge, UK
• 1995: Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering (Propulsion Systems), INSA Rouen, France
• 1995: Master's in Thermal Power-Gas Turbine Technology, University of Cranfield, UK

Research Interests: Development of CFD models for turbulent combustion, fire safety engineering, soot formation, auto-ignition, and emissions reduction. Her work spans aerospace, automotive, and nuclear industries, with recent focus on two-phase flows and compartment fires.

Lab & Partnerships: The Turbulent Combustion Modeling Lab collaborates with industry and global partners to advance combustion technologies. Current projects include oxyfuel combustion, MILD combustion, and fire risk analysis in residential and industrial settings. The lab actively seeks graduate students and sponsors.

Recognition: Holds a US patent for 'Air hybrid engine with a plurality of air tanks' (with collaborators).