Luca Carmignani

Luca Carmignani, Ph.D.

Dr. Luca Carmignani earned his Ph.D. in Engineering Sciences in 2019 from the Joint Doctoral Program between San Diego State University and the University of California, San Diego. Following his postdoctoral research at University of California, Berkeley, he became a Fire Advisor for the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) in Southern California with the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources. He held this position until he joined the SDSU Mechanical Engineering Department as an Assistant Professor in Fall 2024. Throughout his career, Dr. Carmignani has investigated material flammability and the environmental conditions that affect fire behavior across various scales. His research interests include vegetation-structure interactions in WUI fires, fire risks associated with plant traits, and the impact of ambient conditions and gravity on material flammability for spacecraft fire safety.

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Awards

• National Science Foundation: After the Flames in Post-Fire WUI Homes: Characterization of Toxic Emissions, Environmental Concentrations, and Exposures Aug. 1, 2025 – Jul. 30, 2028, PI Dr. Hanyang Li (SDSU)
• Joint Fire Science Program – Bureau of Land Management: California Fire Science Consortium, Co-Principal Investigator (Central and Southern California sub-region), Oct. 1, 2024 – Sep. 30, 2026.
• SDSU Seed Grant Program: Ember Ignition of Coast Live Oak Leaves, Jan. 15, 2025 – Dec. 31, 2025.

List of publications

• Deak, A.L., Low, K.E., Carmignani, L., Tompkins, R.E., Satink-Wolfson, B., The Evolving Wildfire Crisis: The Need to Adapt Statewide Extension Efforts to Address Diverse Challenges, J. Extension, 2025 (in Press)
• Thomsen, M., Carmignani, L., Garg, P., Fernandez-Pello, C., Gollner, M.J., Urban, D.L., Ruff, G.A., The Effect of Normoxic Atmospheres on Upward Flame Spread over a Thin Fabric, Combust. Sci. Technol., 2025 (in Press)
• Carmignani, L., Hajilou, M., Cobian-Iñiguez, J., Finney, M., Stephens, S.L., Gollner, M.J., Fernandez-Pello, C., Smoldering of wood: effects of wind and fuel geometry, Fire Technol. 60, pp.1667–1683, 2024,https://doi.org/10.1007/s10694-024-01542-8
• Carmignani, L., Garg, P., Thomsen, M., Gollner, M.J., Fernandez-Pello, C., Urban, D.L., Ruff, G.A., Effect of sub-atmospheric pressure on the characteristics of concurrent/upward flame spread over a thin solid, Combust. Flame 245, 2022 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.combustflame.2022.112312)
• Thomsen, M., Carmignani, L., Rodriguez, A., Scudiere, C., Liveretou, C., Fernandez-Pello, C., Gollner, M., Olson, S., Ferkul, P., Downward Flame Spread Rate Over PMMA Rods Under External Radiant Heating, Fire Technology 58, pp. 2229–2250, 2022
• Cobian-Iñiguez, J., Richter, F., Carmignani, L, Liveretou, C., Xiong, H., Stephens, S., Finney, M., Gollner, M., Fernandez-Pello, C., Wind Effect on Smoldering Behavior of Wildland Fuels, Combust. Sci. Technol., 2022 (10.1080/00102202.2021.2019239)
• Carmignani, L., Flame Tracker: an image analysis program to measure flame characteristics, SoftwareX 15, 2021 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.softx.2021.100791)
• Bhattacharjee, S., Carmignani, L., Prediction of Flame Length in Opposed-Flow Flame Spread: Global Similarity Analysis and Experiments, Combust. Sci. Technol., 2021 
• Bhattacharjee, S., Carmignani, L., Radiation-kinetics interactions: A comparison of opposed-flow flame spread in a low-velocity microgravity and low-pressure downward environments, Proc. Combust. Inst. 38, 4795-4803, 2021
• Carmignani, L., Dong, K., Bhattacharjee, S., Radiation from flames in a microgravity environment: experimental and numerical investigations, Fire Technol. 56, 33-47, 2020
• Carmignani, L., Bhattacharjee, S., Burn angle and its implications on flame spread rate, mass burning rate, and fuel temperature for downward flame spread over thin PMMA, Combust. Sci. Technol. 192, 1617-1632, 2020
• Bhattacharjee, S., Carmignani, L., Burn angle in forced and natural convection: a simplified scaling approach, Comb. Th. Modell. 23, 956-968, 2019
• Lange, G., Carmignani, L., Bhattacharjee, S., Thermal radiation measurements of downward spreading flames, Appl. Therm. Eng., https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2019.114022
• Delzeit, T., Carmignani, L., Matsuoka, T., Bhattacharjee, S., Influence of edge propagation on downward flame spread over three-dimensional PMMA samples, Proc. Combust. Inst. 37, 3203-3209, 2019
• Carmignani, L., Rhoades, B., Bhattacharjee, S., Correlation of burning rate with spread rate for downward flame spread over PMMA, Fire Technol. 54, 613-624, 2018
• Carmignani, L., Bhattacharjee, S., Olson, S.L., Ferkul, P.V., Boundary Layer Effect on Opposed-Flow Flame Spread and Flame Length over Thin Polymethyl-Methacrylate in Microgravity, Combust. Sci. Technol., 190:3, 534-548, 2018
• Bhattacharjee, S., Carmignani, L., Celniker, G., Rhoades, B., Measurement of Instantaneous Flame Spread Rate Over Solid Fuels Using Image Analysis, Fire Safety J. 91, 123-129, 2017
• Carmignani, L., Lotti, F., Bhattacharjee, S., Comparison of flame spread and blow-off extinction over vertical and horizontal PMMA samples, Mechanical Engineering J., 2016 (DOI: 10.1299/mej.16-00277)
• Carmignani, L., Celniker, G., Bhattacharjee, S., The effect of Boundary Layer on Blow-Off Extinction in Opposed-Flow Flame Spread over Thin Cellulose: Experiments and Simplified Analysis, Fire Technol. 53, 967-982, 2017
• Bhattacharjee, S., Laue, M., Carmignani, L., Ferkul, P.V., Olson, S.L., Opposed-flow flame spread: A comparison of microgravity and normal gravity experiments to establish the thermal regime, Fire Safety J. 79, p. 111-118, 2016