Statistical properties of stochastic 2D Navier-Stokes equations from linear models

A new approach to the old-standing problem of the anomaly of the scaling exponents of nonlinear models of turbulence has been proposed and tested through numerical simulations. This is achieved by constructing, for any given nonlinear model, a linear model of passive advection of an auxiliary field whose anomalous scaling exponents are the same as the scaling exponents of the nonlinear problem. In this paper, we investigate this conjecture for the 2D Navier-Stokes equations driven by an additive noise. In order to check this conjecture, we analyze the coupled system Navier-Stokes/linear advection system in the unknowns $(u,w)$. We introduce a parameter $\lambda$ which gives a system $(u^\lambda,w^\lambda)$; this system is studied for any $\lambda$ proving its well posedness and the uniqueness of its invariant measure $\mu^\lambda$. The key point is that for any $\lambda \neq 0$ the fields $u^\lambda$ and $w^\lambda$ have the same scaling exponents, by assuming universality of the scaling exponents to the force. In order to prove the same for the original fields $u$ and $w$, we investigate the limit as $\lambda \to 0$, proving that $\mu^\lambda$ weakly converges to $\mu^0$, where $\mu^0$ is the only invariant measure for the joint system for $(u,w)$ when $\lambda=0$.Comment: 23 pages; improved versio

Optimal Constraint Projection for Hyperbolic Evolution Systems

Techniques are developed for projecting the solutions of symmetric hyperbolic evolution systems onto the constraint submanifold (the constraint-satisfying subset of the dynamical field space). These optimal projections map a field configuration to the ``nearest'' configuration in the constraint submanifold, where distances between configurations are measured with the natural metric on the space of dynamical fields. The construction and use of these projections is illustrated for a new representation of the scalar field equation that exhibits both bulk and boundary generated constraint violations. Numerical simulations on a black-hole background show that bulk constraint violations cannot be controlled by constraint-preserving boundary conditions alone, but are effectively controlled by constraint projection. Simulations also show that constraint violations entering through boundaries cannot be controlled by constraint projection alone, but are controlled by constraint-preserving boundary conditions. Numerical solutions to the pathological scalar field system are shown to converge to solutions of a standard representation of the scalar field equation when constraint projection and constraint-preserving boundary conditions are used together.Comment: final version with minor changes; 16 pages, 14 figure

Global Existence and Regularity for the 3D Stochastic Primitive Equations of the Ocean and Atmosphere with Multiplicative White Noise

The Primitive Equations are a basic model in the study of large scale Oceanic and Atmospheric dynamics. These systems form the analytical core of the most advanced General Circulation Models. For this reason and due to their challenging nonlinear and anisotropic structure the Primitive Equations have recently received considerable attention from the mathematical community. In view of the complex multi-scale nature of the earth's climate system, many uncertainties appear that should be accounted for in the basic dynamical models of atmospheric and oceanic processes. In the climate community stochastic methods have come into extensive use in this connection. For this reason there has appeared a need to further develop the foundations of nonlinear stochastic partial differential equations in connection with the Primitive Equations and more generally. In this work we study a stochastic version of the Primitive Equations. We establish the global existence of strong, pathwise solutions for these equations in dimension 3 for the case of a nonlinear multiplicative noise. The proof makes use of anisotropic estimates, $L^{p}_{t}L^{q}_{x}$ estimates on the pressure and stopping time arguments.Comment: To appear in Nonlinearit

Global attractors for Cahn-Hilliard equations with non constant mobility

We address, in a three-dimensional spatial setting, both the viscous and the standard Cahn-Hilliard equation with a nonconstant mobility coefficient. As it was shown in J.W. Barrett and J.W. Blowey, Math. Comp., 68 (1999), 487-517, one cannot expect uniqueness of the solution to the related initial and boundary value problems. Nevertheless, referring to J. Ball's theory of generalized semiflows, we are able to prove existence of compact quasi-invariant global attractors for the associated dynamical processes settled in the natural "finite energy" space. A key point in the proof is a careful use of the energy equality, combined with the derivation of a "local compactness" estimate for systems with supercritical nonlinearities, which may have an independent interest. Under growth restrictions on the configuration potential, we also show existence of a compact global attractor for the semiflow generated by the (weaker) solutions to the nonviscous equation characterized by a "finite entropy" condition

Variational assimilation of Lagrangian data in oceanography

We consider the assimilation of Lagrangian data into a primitive equations circulation model of the ocean at basin scale. The Lagrangian data are positions of floats drifting at fixed depth. We aim at reconstructing the four-dimensional space-time circulation of the ocean. This problem is solved using the four-dimensional variational technique and the adjoint method. In this problem the control vector is chosen as being the initial state of the dynamical system. The observed variables, namely the positions of the floats, are expressed as a function of the control vector via a nonlinear observation operator. This method has been implemented and has the ability to reconstruct the main patterns of the oceanic circulation. Moreover it is very robust with respect to increase of time-sampling period of observations. We have run many twin experiments in order to analyze the sensitivity of our method to the number of floats, the time-sampling period and the vertical drift level. We compare also the performances of the Lagrangian method to that of the classical Eulerian one. Finally we study the impact of errors on observations.Comment: 31 page

Some qualitative properties of the solutions of the Magnetohydrodynamic equations for nonlinear bipolar fluids

In this article we study the long-time behaviour of a system of nonlinear Partial Differential Equations (PDEs) modelling the motion of incompressible, isothermal and conducting modified bipolar fluids in presence of magnetic field. We mainly prove the existence of a global attractor denoted by \A for the nonlinear semigroup associated to the aforementioned systems of nonlinear PDEs. We also show that this nonlinear semigroup is uniformly differentiable on \A. This fact enables us to go further and prove that the attractor \A is of finite-dimensional and we give an explicit bounds for its Hausdorff and fractal dimensions.Comment: The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10440-014-9964-

Uniform regularity for the Navier-Stokes equation with Navier boundary condition

We prove that there exists an interval of time which is uniform in the vanishing viscosity limit and for which the Navier-Stokes equation with Navier boundary condition has a strong solution. This solution is uniformly bounded in a conormal Sobolev space and has only one normal derivative bounded in $L^\infty$. This allows to get the vanishing viscosity limit to the incompressible Euler system from a strong compactness argument

Global generalized solutions for Maxwell-alpha and Euler-alpha equations

We study initial-boundary value problems for the Lagrangian averaged alpha models for the equations of motion for the corotational Maxwell and inviscid fluids in 2D and 3D. We show existence of (global in time) dissipative solutions to these problems. We also discuss the idea of dissipative solution in an abstract Hilbert space framework.Comment: 27 pages, to appear in Nonlinearit

Viscous-Inviscid Interactions in a Boundary-Layer Flow Induced by a Vortex Array

In this paper we investigate the asymptotic validity of boundary layer theory. For a flow induced by a periodic row of point-vortices, we compare Prandtl's solution to Navier-Stokes solutions at different $Re$ numbers. We show how Prandtl's solution develops a finite time separation singularity. On the other hand Navier-Stokes solution is characterized by the presence of two kinds of viscous-inviscid interactions between the boundary layer and the outer flow. These interactions can be detected by the analysis of the enstrophy and of the pressure gradient on the wall. Moreover we apply the complex singularity tracking method to Prandtl and Navier-Stokes solutions and analyze the previous interactions from a different perspective

The Inviscid Limit and Boundary Layers for Navier-Stokes Flows

The validity of the vanishing viscosity limit, that is, whether solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations modeling viscous incompressible flows converge to solutions of the Euler equations modeling inviscid incompressible flows as viscosity approaches zero, is one of the most fundamental issues in mathematical fluid mechanics. The problem is classified into two categories: the case when the physical boundary is absent, and the case when the physical boundary is present and the effect of the boundary layer becomes significant. The aim of this article is to review recent progress on the mathematical analysis of this problem in each category.Comment: To appear in "Handbook of Mathematical Analysis in Mechanics of Viscous Fluids", Y. Giga and A. Novotn\'y Ed., Springer. The final publication is available at http://www.springerlink.co