Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Weak Euler solutions have been hypothesized to explain the d'Alembert paradox of non-vanishing drag. A difficulty is the ``weak-strong uniqueness'' property, which requires that an admissible weak Euler solution must coincide with the smooth Euler solution for the same initial data. Using the Josephson-Anderson relation adapted from superfluids, we show that weak-strong uniqueness for d'Alembert's solution requires mild conditions. To explain drag we therefore predict that these conditions are violated by violent eruption of very thin boundary layers. We discuss observational signatures and explain how the small length-scales involved could threaten the validity of a hydrodynamic description.
Source: Physical Review Fluids
Authors: Gregory Eyink, Hao Quan
Institution: Johns Hopkins University
Language: English
Subfield: Applied Mathematics
Field: Mathematics
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4411151453