Abstract
The article summarizes the results of the main research in the field of self-ignition theory. For symmetrical vessels, the following are presented: critical conditions of spontaneous ignition in dimensional coordinates, temperature distribution in the vessel, pre-explosive heating of fuel and the critical size of the vessel at the time of explosion. It is noted that the self-ignition conditions for different vessels differ only by a digital multiplier, which indicates that the shape of the vessel does not affect the physic-chemical processes going on in the fuel at the time of the explosion. Each singular point, being a bifurcation point, determines a number that allows finding a single critical condition of self–ignition from the set of solutions to the heat equation. This condition, in the coordinates of its variables, represents a multidimensional surface separating the zone of stationary existence of a combustible system from the zone of “no return”, where a combustible system cannot exist.