A connection between symmetry breaking for Sobolev minimizers and stationary Navier-Stokes flows past a circular obstacle (Q2115128)

The authors consider the steady motion of a viscous incompressible fluid in a horizontal domain \(\Omega_R=Q_R\setminus \bar{B_1}\), where \(Q_R=(-R,R)\times (-h,h)\) and \(B_1\) is a unit circular disk situated in the center of the rectangle \(Q_R\) with variable length \(2R\) in the \(x\)-direction and constant height \(2h\) in the \(y\)-direction, \(R>h>1\). More precisely, the following boundary value problem (BVP) is considered \[ -\eta \Delta u+(u\cdot\nabla)u+\nabla p =0, \ \, \nabla \cdot u=0 \ \ \mbox{ in } \Omega_R, \] \[ u=(U,0) \ \mbox{ on }\partial Q_R, \ u=(0,0) \ \mbox{ on }\partial B_1, \] where \(\eta\) is a positive constant representing the viscosity of the fluid, \(p\) is the pressure, and \(U\) is a given constant speed in the \(x\)-direction. Using this BVP, the authors show that fluid flows around symmetric obstacles generate vortices which may lead to symmetry breaking of the streamlines. Symmetry breaking properties of some Sobolev minimizers are studied. It is worth pointing out that symmetry breaking is related to the appearance of multiple solutions.