An A Posteriori Condition on the Numerical Approximations of the Navier–Stokes Equations for the Existence of a Strong Solution

Abstract

In their 2006 paper, Chernyshenko et al. [J. Math. Phys., 48 (2007), 065204, 15 pp]. prove that a sufficiently smooth strong solution of the 3D Navier–Stokes equations is robust with respect to small enough changes in initial conditions and forcing function. They also show that if a regular enough strong solution exists, then Galerkin approximations converge to it. They then use these results to conclude that the existence of a sufficiently regular strong solution can be verified using sufficiently refined numerical computations. In this paper we study the strong solutions with less regularity than those considered in Chernyshenko et al. [J. Math. Phys., 48 (2007), 065204, 15 pp]. We prove a similar robustness result and show the validity of the results relating convergent numerical computations and the existence of the strong solutions.