“Compression raises the temperature up probably 6-8 times, (I’d have to do some calculations with Charles’ law to be sure) so inside a cylinder, the fuel temperature is probably around 600 degrees.”
#1 jet fuel would require a minimum of 2800 degrees created by compression and operating temp to self ignite. Now of course if you throw fuel onto a fire that is already burning at this temp it is going to burn. It takes a lighter and OXYGEN to start BBQ starter fluid. And BBQ starter fluid is literally jet fuel. But in a tank there is NO OXIDIZER. So even at that temp or even higher it is NOT going to just explode. But it will indeed burn if it is ruptured and meets oxygen on top of an existing fire from electrical wiring that is already burning.
It is the same with vehicle fires. There has to already be a fire from another source before the gasoline will ignite. I have watched fires burn under a tank full of gasoline burn for quite a bit before the gas expands and blows out of the tank and ignites. And even then it quite awhile longer for the tank to expand and rupture before creating a fire ball explosion.
Being in the heavy wrecker and towing business all my life I have had to sit and wait for at least 25 fuel delivery trucks to burn themselves out before I could extract them and remove them. Never once a violent explosion like in the movies... They just slowly melt and burn as the fuel pours out.
“#1 jet fuel would require a minimum of 2800 degrees created by compression and operating temp to self ignite.”
LOL!
The autoignition temperature for #1 is 410 degrees F.
“But in a tank there is NO OXIDIZER. “
Most of the center tank was filled with an oxidizer!