No label defined (Q4370097)

The author considers the flow of an incompressible viscous fluid past an obstacle, i.e. \[ u_t-\Delta u+ (u\cdot\nabla)u+ \nabla p= 0,\quad \text{div }u= 0\quad\text{in }\Omega\times (0,T), \] \[ u= 0\quad\text{on }\partial\Omega\times (0,T),\quad u(0)= a,\quad \lim_{| x|\to\infty} u(x,t)= u_\infty,\quad 0< t< T. \] Here, \(\Omega\subset \mathbb{R}^3\) is the complement of a bounded domain and \(u_\infty\) is a constant vector. It was shown by Kobayashi and Shibata and by Shibata that the above problem has a global strong solution provided that \(| u_\infty|\) is small and that \(\| a- u_\infty\|_{L^3}\leq| u_\infty|^\beta\) for some \(\beta\in(0, 1)\). The last condition implies that for \(| u_\infty|\to 0\) only \(a= 0\) is an admissible initial function. On the other hand, Iwashita has constructed a global strong solution in the case \(u_\infty= 0\) assuming that \(\| a\|_{L^3}\) is small enough. The main result of this paper is an improved estimate for the fundamental solution of the Oseen operator \(-\Delta+ u_\infty\cdot\nabla\) which is uniform in \(u_\infty\). As a consequence, it will be possible to prove the existence of a global strong solution for small \(| u_\infty|\) under the weaker condition that \(\| a- u_\infty\|_{L^3}\) is small thereby providing an extension of Iwashita's result to the case \(u_\infty\neq 0\). For the entire collection see [Zbl 0879.00046].