Effect of vorticity coherence on energy-enstrophy bounds for the 3D Navier-Stokes equations

Abstract

Bounding curves in the energy,enstrophy-plane are derived for the 3D Navier-Stokes equations under an assumption on coherence of the vorticity direction. The analysis in the critical case where the direction is H\"older continuous with exponent $r=1/2$ results in a curve with extraordinarily large maximal enstrophy (exponential in Grashof), in marked contrast to the subcritical case, $r>1/2$ (algebraic in Grashof).