An-Eulerian-Lagrangian-Approach-for-Incompressible-Fluids：-Local-Theory.pdfVIP

An Eulerian-Lagrangian Approach for Incompressible Fluids: Local Theory Peter Constantin Department of Mathematics The University of Chicago May 28, 2006 1 Introduction The three dimensional Euler equations are evolution equations for the three velocity components u(x, t), ∂u + u ∇u + ∇p = 0, (1) ∂t coupled with a fourth equation, ∇ u = 0, expressing incompressibility. In this Eulerian formulation the velocity u and pressure p are recorded at fixed 3 locations x ∈ R . The velocities and pressure vanish at infinity or are pe- riodic. The pressure is determined using incompressibility. The equation is 2 conservative and the total kinetic energy, |u| dx is a constant of motion. The Euler equations can be studied in terms of the vorticity ([1]). The vorticity is a vector ω = ∇ × u corresponding to the anti-symmetric part of the gradient matrix ∇u. It obeys a quadratic equation, whose nature is such that the magnitude of the vorticity may increase in time. If the amplification is not rapid enough then a well-known criterion ([2]) guarantees that no blow up can occur: if T sup |ω (x, t)|dt ∞ 0 x 1 and the initial data are smooth, then the solution is smooth on the time interval [0, T]. The vorticity equation can be interpreted as the vanishing of a commutator [D , Ω] = 0 (2) t where ∂