Approximation of 2D Euler Equations by the Second-Grade Fluid Equations with Dirichlet Boundary Conditions

TL;DR

This paper investigates the convergence of second-grade fluid equations to the Euler equations in 2D, establishing conditions under which solutions converge and extending classical criteria like Kato's to viscoelastic fluid models.

Contribution

The authors prove convergence of second-grade fluid solutions to Euler equations under specific parameter regimes and extend Kato's criterion to this viscoelastic model.

Findings

Convergence when viscosity scales as the square of the elastic parameter

Equivalence between convergence and boundary energy dissipation

Extension of Kato's criterion for the second-grade fluid model

Abstract

The second-grade fluid equations are a model for viscoelastic fluids, with two parameters: $\alpha > 0$, corresponding to the elastic response, and $\nu > 0$, corresponding to viscosity. Formally setting these parameters to $0$ reduces the equations to the incompressible Euler equations of ideal fluid flow. In this article we study the limits $\alpha, \nu \to 0$ of solutions of the second-grade fluid system, in a smooth, bounded, two-dimensional domain with no-slip boundary conditions. This class of problems interpolates between the Euler-$\alpha$ model ($\nu = 0$), for which the authors recently proved convergence to the solution of the incompressible Euler equations, and the Navier-Stokes case ($\alpha = 0$), for which the vanishing viscosity limit is an important open problem. We prove three results. First, we establish convergence of the solutions of the second-grade model to those of the Euler equations provided $\nu = \mathcal{O}(\alpha^2)$, as $\alpha \to 0$, extending the main result in [19]. Second, we prove equivalence between convergence (of the second-grade fluid equations to the Euler equations) and vanishing of the energy dissipation in a suitably thin region near the boundary, in the asymptotic regime $\nu = \mathcal{O}(\alpha^{6/5})$, $\nu/\alpha^2 \to \infty$ as $\alpha \to 0$. This amounts to a convergence criterion similar to the well-known Kato criterion for the vanishing viscosity limit of the Navier-Stokes equations to the Euler equations. Finally, we obtain an extension of Kato's classical criterion to the second-grade fluid model, valid if $\alpha = \mathcal{O}(\nu^{3/2})$, as $\nu \to 0$. The proof of all these results relies on energy estimates and boundary correctors, following the original idea by Kato.