On the solvability of the Navier-Stokes equations for a nonhomogeneous non-Newtonian fluid (Q736027)

A compressible Navier-Stokes fluid is considered, with a nonlinear viscous stress tensor, containing the symmetric part of the velocity gradient at power \(p-2\). An existence result for a weak solution is proved for \(p\) larger than a particular admissible lower bound. Moreover, the product of density and velocity is weakly continuous on a finite time interval, and the initial condition is verified in this sense. The proof is based on Galerkin's method. The result can be used also for non-Newtonian fluids with a more general viscous tensor (including the electro-rheological fluids).