A proof of approximate controllability of the 3D Navier-Stokes system via a linear test

Abstract

We consider the 3D Navier-Stokes system driven by an additive finite-dimensional control force. The purpose of this paper is to show how the approximate controllability of this system can be derived from the approximate controllability of the Euler system linearised around some suitable trajectory. The proof presented here is shorter than the previous ones obtained by Lie algebraic methods and gives some new information about the structure of the control. The dimension of the control space provided by this approach is larger, but it is still uniform with respect to the viscosity.