Variational Inequalities of Navier--Stokes Type with Time Dependent Constraints

Abstract

We consider a class of parabolic variational inequalities with time dependent obstacle of the form $|{\boldsymbol u}(x,t)| \le p(x,t)$, where ${\boldsymbol u}$ is the velocity field of a fluid governed by the Navier--Stokes variational inequality. The obstacle function $p=p(x,t)$ imposed on ${\boldsymbol u}$ consists of three parts which are respectively the degenerate part $p(x,t)=0$, the finitely positive part $0< p(x,t) <\infty$ and singular part $p(x,t)=\infty$. In this paper, we shall propose a sequence of approximate obstacle problems with everywhere finitely positive obstacles and prove an existence result for the original problem by discussing the convergence of the approximate problems. The crucial step is to handle the nonlinear convection term. In this paper we propose a new approach to it.