318 V Steady Stokes Flow in Exterior Domains
Remark V.3.5 As pointed out in Remark V.2.2, for Ω a two-dimensional
exterior domain, by the method of Theorem V.2.1 we can construct a field v
satisfying (i)-(iii) and (v) of Definition V.1.1, with q = 2. However, we are not
able to check condition (iv), for a prescrib ed v
∞
∈ R
2
. Nevertheless, if f is of
compact support, Theorem V.3.2 implies that v does tend to a certain vector
v
∞
∈ R
2
. In fact, since v ∈ D
1,2
(Ω), it is then simple to show that
Z
∂Ω
R
T ( v, p) · n = 0, (V.3.32)
where R is taken so large that Ω
R
includes the support of f and p is the
pressure field associated to p by Lemma V.1.1. To prove (V.3.32) we notice
that from (V.0.1) and from the definition of T we have, for all S > R,
2
Z
∂Ω
R
T ( v, p) · n =
Z
∂Ω
S
T (v, p) · n =
Z
∂Ω
S
(2D(v) · n + pn).
However, since v ∈ D
1,2
(Ω
R
) and, by Lemma V.1.1, the corresponding pres-
sure field p ∈ L
2
(Ω
R
), we can find a sequence {S
k
}, S
k
→ ∞ as k → ∞, a long
which the last integral on the right-hand side of the preceding identities tends
to zero, thus proving (V.3.32). Theorem V.3. 2 then ensures the existence of
a well-defined vector v
∞
to which v tends at large distances. In general, v
∞
cannot be prescribed a priori (in particular, cannot be zero) unless the data
verify a suitable restriction, see Section V.7. Notice, also, that, in the partic-
ular case when v
∗
≡ f ≡ 0, describing the slow, plane mo tion of the liquid
past a cyli nder, we can ta ke Ω
R
≡ Ω in (V.3.32), thus obtaining that the total
force exerted by the liquid on the cylinder is zero. This is ano ther fo rm of the
Stokes paradox; see al so Section V.7.
Let us now derive some significant implications of Theorem V.3.2. We
begin with a uniqueness result for q-generalized solutions.
Theorem V.3.4 Let v be a q-generalized solution to the Stokes problem
(V.0.1), (V.0.2) in an exterior, three-dimensional
3
domain of class C
2
, corre-
sponding to f ≡ v
∗
≡ 0. Then v ≡ 0.
Proof. From Lemma V.1.1 and the regularity results of Theorem IV.4.1 and
Theorem IV.5.1, we derive
v ∈ W
2,q
loc
(Ω) ∩ C
∞
(Ω), p ∈ W
1,q
loc
(Ω) ∩ C
∞
(Ω), for all q ∈ (1, ∞).
We may then apply Theorem V.3.2 to deduce
v = O(|x|
−1
), p, ∇v = O(|x|
−2
). (V.3.33)
2
Observe that v, p ∈ C
∞
(Ω
R
).
3
The result continues to hold in any space dimension n ≥ 3.