Asymptotic analysis of the Navier-Stokes equations (Q1070419)

A remarkable property of any two-dimensional solution of the viscous incompressible Navier-Stokes equations is that, for large times, their asymptotic behavior is totally determined by that of a finite number N of spatial Fourier modes. For both theoretical and practical purposes it is important to get close estimates of N. In this paper the authors present new rigorous estimates from above of N. The best bound available is nearly proportional to a suitable generalized Grashof number (which depends on the driving force) and less than logarithmically dependent on the spatial structure or the shape of the force driving the flow. The estimates are derived for vanishing boundary data in a bounded domain as well as for space-periodic solutions in an unbounded domain. The first N modes usually determine solutions for large times in the mean square sense. In the last part of the paper conditions are discussed under which the above results hold in the pointwise sense.