Turbulence and statistical solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations
Ricardo M. S. Rosa
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Abstract:
Turbulent flows appear in many different phenomena and is of
fundamental importance in science and technology. Great part of the
conventional statistical theory of turbulence, however, is based on heuristic
arguments and empirical information, with the notion of ensemble average of
flows playing a fundamental role. The theory of statistical solutions aims
towards a rigorous foundation for the conventional statistical theory of
turbulence by rigorously defining the evolution of the probability
distributions of the velocity field within the framework of Leray-Hopf weak
solutions of three-dimensional incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. In this
talk we will review a few characteristics of turbulent flows and discuss the
concept of statistical solution. We then mention some rigorous results obtained
with this framework. If time permits, we discuss a generalization of the notion
of statistical solution to an abstract setting that easily applies to many
different equations.