Jaw-dropping? Maybe. Realistic? Nope.
I work in a group with scientists whose sole job is to solve the Navier-Stokes equations. Now that's realistic.
I work in a group with scientists whose sole job is to solve the Navier-Stokes equations. Now that's realistic.
Non-trivial closed-form solutions are hopeless. Existence of solutions is a little less hopeless. Existence of solutions over small time horizons has been proven. This is all in three space dimensions.
There is a theorem stating that if global-time solutions exist and are unique, then computationally computed approximate solutions are 'good'. Moreover, they get better as you refine the computational domain.
Finite element methods are a special case of Galerkin methods. Finite element methods are good enough.
:)