Formation of Finite-Time Singularities in the 3D Axisymmetric Euler Equations: A Numerics Guided Study

Whether the three-dimensional incompressible Euler equations can develop a singularity in finite time from smooth initial data is one of the most challenging problems in mathematical fluid dynamics. This work attempts to provide an affirmative answer to this long-standing open question, by first describing a class of potentially singular solutions to the Euler equations numerically discovered in axisymmetric geometries, and then by presenting evidence from rigorous analysis that strongly supports the existence of such singular solutions. The initial data leading to these singular solutions possess certain special symmetry and monotonicity properties, and the subsequent flows are assumed to satisfy a periodic boundary condition along the axial direction and a no-flow, free-slip boundary condition on the solid wall. The numerical study employs a hybrid 6th-order Galerkin/finite difference discretization of the governing equations in space and a 4th-order Runge--Kutta discretization in time, where the emerging singularity is captured on specially designed adaptive (moving) meshes that are dynamically adjusted to the evolving solutions. With a maximum effective resolution of over (3 x 10¹²)² near the point of the singularity, the simulations are able to advance the solution to a point that is asymptotically close to the predicted singularity time, while achieving a pointwise relative error of O(10⁻⁴) in the vorticity vector and obtaining a 3 x 10⁸-fold increase in the maximum vorticity. The numerical data are checked against all major blowup/nonblowup criteria, including Beale-Kato-Majda, Constantin-Fefferman-Majda, and Deng-Hou-Yu, to confirm the validity of the singularity. A close scrutiny of the data near the point of the singularity also reveals a self-similar structure in the blowup, as well as a one-dimensional model which is seen to capture the essential features of the singular solutions along the solid wall, and for which existence of finite-time singularities can be established rigorously.