Navier-Stokes equations in a curved thin domain, Part III: thin-film limit

Abstract: We consider the Navier-Stokes equations with Navier's slip boundary conditions in a three-dimensional curved thin domain around a given closed surface. Under suitable assumptions we show that the average in the thin direction of a strong solution to the bulk Navier-Stokes equations converges weakly in appropriate function spaces on the limit surface as the thickness of the thin domain tends to zero. Moreover, we characterize the limit as a weak solution to limit equations, which are the damped and weighted Navier-Stokes equations on the limit surface. We also prove the strong convergence of the average of a strong solution to the bulk equations towards a weak solution to the limit equations by showing estimates for the difference between them. In some special case our limit equations agree with the Navier-Stokes equations on a Riemannian manifold in which the viscous term contains the Ricci curvature. This is the first result on a rigorous derivation of the surface Navier-Stokes equations on a general closed surface by the thin-film limit.