Analysis of a two-dimensional grade-two fluid model with a tangential boundary condition (Q1569005)

The authors investigate a certain model of a non-Newtonian fluid. Namely they consider the equations modelling the motion of a steady-state, two-dimensional grade-two fluid. If \(v(x)\) is the vector of velocity and \(p(x)\) is the pressure then the equations have the form \[ -\nu\Delta v+\text{curl}(v-\alpha\Delta v)\times v\;+\nabla p=f, \qquad \text{div }v=0\quad\text{in }\Omega, \tag{1} \] where \(\nu\) and \(\alpha\) are given nonnegative constants, \(\Omega\) is a bounded domain in \(\mathbb{R}^2\) with a Lipschitz continuous boundary. The Dirichlet tangential boundary condition \[ v=g\quad \text{on } \partial\Omega\quad \text{with } g\cdot n=0 \quad \text{on } \partial\Omega\tag{2} \] is added to the equations. The main step to the solution of the problem (1), (2) is the investigation of a transport equation \[ \nu z+\alpha\vec u\cdot\nabla z=h.\tag{3} \] Here \(z\) is an unknown scalar function and \(\vec u\) is a given vector. On the base of a sharp analysis of the equation (3) the authors prove the solvability of the problem (1), (2) and establish the convergence of the solution of this problem to a solution of the Navier-Stokes equations when \(\alpha\) tends to zero. Regularity and uniqueness of the solution are established when the domain is a polygon.