In light of the question of finite-time blow-up vs. global well-posedness of solutions to problems involving nonlinear partial differential equations, we provide several cautionary examples which indicate that modifications to the boundary conditions or to the nonlinearity of the equations can effect whether the equations develop finite-time singularities. In particular, we aim to underscore the idea that in analytical and computational investigations of the blow-up of three-dimensional Euler and Navier-Stokes equations, the boundary conditions may need to be taken into greater account. We also examine a perturbation of the nonlinearity by dropping the advection term in the evolution of the derivative of the solutions to the viscous Burgers equation, which leads to the development of singularities not present in the original equation, and indicates that there is a regularizing mechanism in part of the nonlinearity. This simple analytical example corroborates recent computational observations in the singularity formation of fluid equations.

We prove existence, uniqueness, and higher-order global regularity of strong solutions to a particular Voigt-regularization of the three-dimensional inviscid resistive magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations. Specifically, the coupling of a resistive magnetic field to the Euler-Voigt model is introduced to form an inviscid regularization of the inviscid resistive MHD system. The results hold in both the whole space R3 and in the context of periodic boundary conditions. Weak solutions for this regularized model are also considered, and proven to exist globally in time, but the question of uniqueness for weak solutions is still open. Furthermore, we show that the solutions of the Voigt regularized system converge, as the regularization parameter α → 0, to strong solutions of the original inviscid resistive MHD, on the corresponding time interval of existence of the latter. Moreover, we also establish a new criterion for blow-up of solutions to the original MHD system inspired by this Voigt regularization. © 2013 Springer Basel.

We propose a new blow-up criterion for the 3D Euler equations of incompressible fluid flows, based on the 3D Euler-Voigt inviscid regularization. This criterion is similar in character to a criterion proposed in a previous work by the authors, but it is stronger, and better adapted for computational tests. The 3D Euler-Voigt equations enjoy global well-posedness, and moreover are more tractable to simulate than the 3D Euler equations. A major advantage of these new criteria is that one only needs to simulate the 3D Euler-Voigt, and not the 3D Euler equations, to test the blow-up criteria, for the 3D Euler equations, computationally.

We establish global existence and uniqueness theorems for the two-dimensional non-diffusive Boussinesq system with anisotropic viscosity acting only in the horizontal direction, which arises in ocean dynamics models. Global well-posedness for this system was proven by Danchin and Paicu; however, an additional smoothness assumption on the initial density was needed to prove uniqueness. They stated that it is not clear whether uniqueness holds without this additional assumption. The present work resolves this question and we establish uniqueness without this additional assumption. Furthermore, the proof provided here is more elementary; we use only tools available in the standard theory of Sobolev spaces, and without resorting to para-product calculus. We use a new approach by defining an auxiliary "stream-function" associated with the density, analogous to the stream-function associated with the vorticity in 2D incompressible Euler equations, then we adapt some of the ideas of Yudovich for proving uniqueness for 2D Euler equations. © 2013 Elsevier Inc.

We establish global existence and uniqueness theorems for the two-dimensional non-diffusive Boussinesq system with viscosity only in the horizontal direction, which arises in Ocean dynamics. This work improves the global well-posedness results established recently by R. Danchin and M. Paicu for the Boussinesq system with anisotropic viscosity and zero diffusion. Although we follow some of their ideas, in proving the uniqueness result, we have used an alternative approach by writing the transported temperature (density) as $\theta = \Delta\xi$ and adapting the techniques of V. Yudovich for the 2D incompressible Euler equations. This new idea allows us to establish uniqueness results with fewer assumptions on the initial data for the transported quantity $\theta$. Furthermore, this new technique allows us to establish uniqueness results without having to resort to the paraproduct calculus of J. Bony. We also propose an inviscid $\alpha$-regularization for the two-dimensional inviscid, non-diffusive Boussinesq system of equations, which we call the Boussinesq-Voigt equations. Global regularity of this system is established. Moreover, we establish the convergence of solutions of the Boussinesq-Voigt model to the corresponding solutions of the two-dimensional Boussinesq system of equations for inviscid flow without heat (density) diffusion on the interval of existence of the latter. Furthermore, we derive a criterion for finite-time blow-up of the solutions to the inviscid, non-diffusive 2D Boussinesq system based on this inviscid Voigt regularization. Finally, we propose a Voigt-$\alpha$ regularization for the inviscid 3D Boussinesq equations with diffusion, and prove its global well-posedness. It is worth mentioning that our results are also valid in the presence of the $\beta$-plane approximation of the Coriolis force.

We report the results of a computational investigation of two blow-up criteria for the 3D incompressible Euler equations. One criterion was proven in a previous work, and a related criterion is proved here. These criteria are based on an inviscid regularization of the Euler equations known as the 3D Euler–Voigt equations, which are known to be globally well-posed. Moreover, simulations of the 3D Euler–Voigt equations also require less resolution than simulations of the 3D Euler equations for fixed values of the regularization parameter α> 0. Therefore, the new blow-up criteria allow one to gain information about possible singularity formation in the 3D Euler equations indirectly, namely by simulating the better-behaved 3D Euler–Voigt equations. The new criteria are only known to be sufficient criterion for blow-up. Therefore, to test the robustness of the inviscid-regularization approach, we also investigate analogous criteria for blow-up of the 1D Burgers equation, where blow-up is well known to occur.