On the Kolmogorov Dissipation Law in a Damped Navier–Stokes Equation

Abstract

We consider here the Navier–Stokes equations in $${\mathbb {R}}^{3}$$ with a stationary, divergence-free external force and with an additional damping term that depends on two parameters. We first study the well-posedness of weak solutions for these equations and then, for a particular set of the damping parameters, we will obtain an upper and lower control for the energy dissipation rate $$\varepsilon $$ according to the Kolmogorov K41 theory. However, although the behavior of weak solutions corresponds to the K41 theory, we will show that in some specific cases the damping term introduced in the Navier–Stokes equations prevents the turbulent characterization of the Taylor scale even though the Grashof number (which is equivalent to the Reynolds numbers) is large.