A canonical Hamiltonian formulation of the Navier-Stokes problem

Abstract

This paper presents a novel Hamiltonian formulation of the isotropic Navier-Stokes problem based on a minimum-action principle derived from the principle of least squares. This formulation uses the velocities $u_i(x_j,t)$ and pressure $p(x_j,t)$ as the field quantities to be varied, along with canonically conjugate momenta deduced from the analysis. From these, a conserved Hamiltonian functional $H^{\ast }$ satisfying Hamilton's canonical equations is constructed, and the associated Hamilton-Jacobi equation is formulated for both compressible and incompressible flows. This Hamilton-Jacobi equation reduces the problem of finding four separate field quantities ($u_i$,$p$) to that of finding a single scalar functional in those fields--Hamilton's principal functional ${\text{S}}^{\ast }[t,u_i,p]$. Moreover, the transformation theory of Hamilton and Jacobi now provides a prescribed recipe for solving the Navier-Stokes problem: Find ${\text{S}}^{\ast }$. If an analytical expression for ${\text{S}}^{\ast }$ can be obtained, it will lead via canonical transformation to a new set of fields which are simply equal to their initial values, giving analytical expressions for the original velocity and pressure fields. Failing that, if one can only show that a complete solution to this Hamilton-Jacobi equation does or does not exist, that will also resolve the question of existence of solutions. The method employed here is not specific to the Navier-Stokes problem or even to classical mechanics, and can be applied to any traditionally non-Hamiltonian problem.

arXiv comment28 pages, 0 figures

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