Global classical solutions to the 3D isentropic compressible Navier–Stokes equations in a bounded domain

In this paper, we study the global existence for classical solutions to the 3D isentropic compressible Navier-Stokes equations in a cuboid domain. Compared to the Cauchy problem studied in Hoff (1995 J. Differ. Equ. 120 215-54), Hoff (2005 J. Math. Fluid Mech. 7 315-38), Huang et al (2012 Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 65 549-85), some new thoughts are applied to obtain upper bounds for density. Precisely, through piecewise estimation and some time-depending a priori estimates, we establish time-uniform upper bounds for density under the assumption that the initial energy is small. The initial vacuum is allowed.