title: Thermodynamic theory of incompressible hydrodynamics.
abstract: The grand potential for open systems describes thermodynamics of fluid flows at low Mach numbers. A new system of reduced equations for the grand potential and the fluid momentum is derived from the compressible Navier-Stokes equations. The incompressible Navier-Stokes equations are the quasistationary solution to the new system. It is argued that the grand canonical ensemble is the unifying concept for the derivation of models and numerical methods for incompressible fluids, illustrated here with a simulation of a minimal Boltzmann model in a microflow setup.
authors.affiliation: ETH-Zürich, Institute of Energy Technology, CH-8092 Zürich, Switzerland. ansumali@lav.mavt.ethz.ch
authors.forename: Santosh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ansumali
authors.forename: Iliya V
authors.initials: IV
authors.lastname: Karlin
authors.forename: Hans Christian
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Ottinger