The Navier-Stokes equation can be written in a form of Poisson equation. For laminar flow in a channel (plane Poiseuille flow), the Navier-Stokes equation has a non-zero source term (∇2u(x, y, z) = Fx (x, y, z, t) and a non-zero solution within the domain. For transitional flow, the velocity profile is distorted, and an inflection point or kink appears on the velocity profile, at a sufficiently high Reynolds number and large disturbance. In the vicinity of the inflection point or kink on the distorted velocity profile, we can always find a point where ∇2u(x, y, z) = 0. At this point, the Poisson equation is singular, due to the zero source term, and has no solution at this point due to singularity. It is concluded that there exists no smooth orphysically reasonable solutions of the Navier-Stokes equation for transitional flow and turbulence in the global domain due to singularity.
Keywords: Navier-Stokes equation; Poisson equation; singularity; transitional flow; turbulence.