Calmed 3D Navier-Stokes Equations: Global Well-Posedness, Energy Identities, Global Attractors, and Convergence

Abstract

We propose a modification to the nonlinear term of the three-dimensional incompressible Navier-Stokes equations (NSE) in either advective or rotational form which "calms" the system in the sense that the algebraic degree of the nonlinearity is effectively reduced. This system, the calmed Navier-Stokes Equations (calmed NSE), utilizes a "calming function" in the nonlinear term to locally constrain large advective velocities. Notably, this approach avoids the direct smoothing or filtering of derivatives, thus we make no modifications to the boundary conditions. Under suitable conditions on the calming function, we are able to prove global well-posedness of calmed NSE and show the convergence of calmed NSE solutions to NSE solutions on the time interval of existence for the latter. In addition, we prove that the dynamical system generated by the calmed NSE in the rotational form possesses both an energy identity and a global attractor. Moreover, we show that strong solutions to the calmed equations converge to strong solutions of the NSE without assuming their existence, providing a new proof of the existence of strong solutions to the 3D Navier-Stokes equations.