Modeling of the unsteady flow through a channel with an artificial outflow condition by the Navier–Stokes variational inequality

We prove the global in time existence of a weak solution to the variational inequality of the Navier–Stokes type, simulating the unsteady flow of a viscous fluid through the channel, with the so‐called “do nothing” boundary condition on the outflow. The condition that the solution lies in a certain given, however arbitrarily large, convex set and the use of the variational inequality enables us to derive an energy‐type estimate of the solution. We also discuss the use of a series of other possible outflow “do nothing” boundary conditions.