A direct numerical simulation (DNS) is a simulation in computational fluid dynamics in which the Navier–Stokes equations are numerically solved without any turbulence model. This means that the whole range of spatial and temporal scales of the turbulence must be resolved. All the spatial scales of the turbulence must be resolved in the computational mesh, from the smallest dissipative scales (Kolmogorov microscales), up to the integral scale L, associated with the motions containing most of the kinetic energy. The Kolmogorov scale, , is given by    where  is the kinematic viscosity and  is the rate of kinetic energy dissipation. On the other hand, the integral scale depends usually on the spatial scale of the boundary conditions.