Geometric regularity criteria for the Navier–Stokes equations in terms of velocity direction

Abstract

In this paper, we are inspired by a famous result by Constantin and Fefferman who proved that a simple geometrical assumption on the direction of the vorticity leads to the regularity of weak solutions of the 3D Navier–Stokes equations. We show that the same result can be achieved if the vorticity direction is replaced by the velocity direction. We further strengthen this result and prove that in fact it is not necessary to consider the velocity direction in all close space points but only in the points whose distance equals to a small positive number dependant on the data. In the second part of the paper, we extend a result by Berselli and C rdoba concerning the role of the helicity for the regularity of the weak solutions of the Navier–Stokes equations.