A second-order numerical method for two-dimensional two-sided space fractional convection diffusion equation

Space fractional convection diffusion equation describes physical phenomena where particles or energy (or other physical quantities) are transferred inside a physical system due to two processes: convection and superdiffusion. In this paper, we discuss the practical alternating directions implicit method to solve the two-dimensional two-sided space fractional convection diffusion equation on a finite domain. We theoretically prove and numerically verify that the presented finite difference scheme is unconditionally von Neumann stable and second order convergent in both space and time directions.     

A meshless method for solving three-dimensional time fractional diffusion equation with variable-order derivatives

In this study a new framework for solving three-dimensional (3D) time fractional diffusion equation with variable-order derivatives is presented. Firstly, a θ-weighted finite difference scheme with second-order accuracy is introduced to perform temporal discretization. Then a meshless generalized finite difference (GFD) scheme is employed for the solutions of remaining problems in the space domain. The proposed scheme is truly meshless and can be used to solve problems defined on an arbitrary domain in three dimensions. Preliminary numerical examples illustrate that the new method proposed here is accurate and efficient for time fractional diffusion equation in three dimensions, particularly when high accuracy is desired.     

Implicit difference approximation for the time fractional diffusion equation

In this paper, we consider a time fractional diffusion equation on a finite domain. The equation is obtained from the standard diffusion equation by replacing the first-order time derivative by a fractional derivative (of order 0 < α < 1 ). We propose a computationally effective implicit difference approximation to solve the time fractional diffusion equation. Stability and convergence of the method are discussed. We prove that the implicit difference approximation (IDA) is unconditionally stable, and the IDA is convergent withO(Τ +h ²), where Τ andh are time and space steps, respectively. Some numerical examples are presented to show the application of the present technique.     

Analytical approximate solutions of Riesz fractional diffusion equation and Riesz fractional advection–dispersion equation involving nonlocal space fractional derivatives

In this paper, we consider the analytical solutions of fractional partial differential equations (PDEs) with Riesz space fractional derivatives on a finite domain. Here we considered two types of fractional PDEs with Riesz space fractional derivatives such as Riesz fractional diffusion equation (RFDE) and Riesz fractional advection–dispersion equation (RFADE). The RFDE is obtained from the standard diffusion equation by replacing the second‐order space derivative with the Riesz fractional derivative of order α∈(1,2]. The RFADE is obtained from the standard advection–dispersion equation by replacing the first‐order and second‐order space derivatives with the Riesz fractional derivatives of order β∈(0,1] and of order α∈(1,2] respectively. Here the analytic solutions of both the RFDE and RFADE are derived by using modified homotopy analysis method with Fourier transform. Then, we analyze the results by numerical simulations, which demonstrate the simplicity and effectiveness of the present method. Here the space fractional derivatives are defined as Riesz fractional derivatives. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Implicit difference approximation for the two-dimensional space-time fractional diffusion equation

In this paper, we consider a two-dimensional fractional spacetime diffusion equation (2DFSTDE) on a finite domain. We examine an implicit difference approximation to solve the 2DFSTDE. Stability and convergence of the method are discussed. Some numerical examples are presented to show the application of the present technique.     

Approximate analytical solution of two-dimensional space-time fractional diffusion equation

This work presents an iterative scheme for the numerical solution of the space-time fractional two-dimensional advection–reaction–diffusion equation applying homotopy perturbation with Laplace transform using Caputo fractional-order derivatives. The solution obtained is beneficial and significant to analyze the modeling of superdiffusive systems and subdiffusive system, anomalous diffusion, transport process in porous media. This iterative technique presents the combination of homotopy perturbation technique, and Laplace transforms with He's polynomials, which can further be applied to numerous linear/nonlinear two-dimensional fractional models to computes the approximate analytical solution. In the present method, the nonlinearity can be tackle by He's polynomials. The salient features of the present scientific work are the pictorial presentations of the approximate numerical solution of the two-dimensional fractional advection–reaction–diffusion equation for different particular cases of fractional order and showcasing of the damping effect of reaction terms on the nature of probability density function of the considered two-dimensional nonlinear mathematical models for various situations.     

Analytical solution of a spatially variable coefficient advection–diffusion equation in up to three dimensions

Analytical solutions are provided for the two- and three-dimensional advection–diffusion equation with spatially variable velocity and diffusion coefficients. We assume that the velocity component is proportional to the distance and that the diffusion coefficient is proportional to the square of the corresponding velocity component. There is a simple transformation which reduces the spatially variable equation to a constant coefficient problem for which there are available a large number of known analytical solutions for general initial and boundary conditions. These solutions are also solutions to the spatially variable advection–diffusion equation. The special form of the spatial coefficients has practical relevance and for divergent free flow represent corner or straining flow. Unlike many other analytical solutions, we use the transformation to obtain solutions of the spatially variable coefficient advection–diffusion equation in two and three dimensions. The analytical solutions, which are simple to evaluate, can be used to validate numerical models for solving the advection–diffusion equation with spatially variable coefficients. For numerical schemes which cannot handle flow stagnation points, we provide analytical solution to the spatially variable coefficient advection–diffusion equation for two-dimensional corner flow which contains an impermeable flow boundary. The impermeable flow boundary coincides with a streamline along which the fluid velocity is finite but the concentration vanishes. This example is useful for validating numerical schemes designed to predict transport around a curved boundary.     

Fast evaluation and high accuracy finite element approximation for the time fractional subdiffusion equation

In this article, an efficient algorithm for the evaluation of the Caputo fractional derivative and the superconvergence property of fully discrete finite element approximation for the time fractional subdiffusion equation are considered. First, the space semidiscrete finite element approximation scheme for the constant coefficient problem is derived and supercloseness result is proved. The time discretization is based on the L1‐type formula, whereas the space discretization is done using, the fully discrete scheme is developed. Under some regularity assumptions, the superconvergence estimate is proposed and analyzed. Then, extension to the case of variable coefficients is also discussed. To reduce the computational cost, the fast evaluation scheme of the Caputo fractional derivative to solve the fractional diffusion equations is designed. Finally, numerical experiments are presented to support the theoretical results.     

Polynomial spectral collocation method for space fractional advection–diffusion equation

This article discusses the spectral collocation method for numerically solving nonlocal problems: one‐dimensional space fractional advection–diffusion equation; and two‐dimensional linear/nonlinear space fractional advection–diffusion equation. The differentiation matrixes of the left and right Riemann–Liouville and Caputo fractional derivatives are derived for any collocation points within any given bounded interval. Several numerical examples with different boundary conditions are computed to verify the efficiency of the numerical schemes and confirm the exponential convergence; the physical simulations for Lévy–Feller advection–diffusion equation and space fractional Fokker–Planck equation with initial δ‐peak and reflecting boundary conditions are performed; and the eigenvalue distributions of the iterative matrix for a variety of systems are displayed to illustrate the stabilities of the numerical schemes in more general cases. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 30: 514–535, 2014     

Multiscale behavior and fractional kinetics from the data of solar wind–magnetosphere coupling

Multiscale phenomena are ubiquitous in nature as well as in laboratories. A broad range of interacting space and time scales determines the dynamics of many systems which are inherently multiscale. In many systems multiscale phenomena are not only prominent, but also they often play the dominant role. In the solar wind–magnetosphere interaction, multiscale features coexist along with the global or coherent features. Underlying these phenomena are the mathematical and theoretical approaches such as phase transitions, turbulence, self-organization, fractional kinetics, percolation, etc. The fractional kinetic equations provide a suitable mathematical framework for multiscale behavior. In the fractional kinetic equations the multiscale nature is described through fractional derivatives and the solutions of these equations yield infinite moments, showing strong multiscale behavior. Using a Lévy flights approach, we analyze the correlated data of the solar wind–magnetosphere coupling. Based on this analysis a model of the multiscale features is proposed and compared with the solutions of diffusion-type equations. The equation with fractional spatial derivative shows strong multiscale behavior with infinite moments. On the other hand, the equation with space dependent diffusion coefficients yield finite moments, indicating Gaussian type solutions and absence of long tails typically associated with multiscale behavior.     

Solvability for p-Laplacian generalized fractional coupled systems with two-sided memory effects

This paper determines the solvability of multipoint boundary value problems for p-Laplacian generalized fractional differential systems with Riesz–Caputo derivative, which exhibits two-sided nonlocal memory effects. An equivalent integral form for the generalized fractional differential system is deduced by transformation. First, we obtain the existence of solutions on the basis of the upper–lower solutions method, in which an explicit iterative approach for approximating the solution is established. Second, we deal with a special case of our fractional differential system; in order to obtain novel results, an abstract sum-type operator equation A(x,x)+Bx+e=x on ordered Banach space is discussed. Without requiring the existence of upper–lower solutions or compactness conditions, we get several unique results of solutions for this operator equation, which provide new inspiration for the study of boundary value problems. Then, we apply these abstract results to get the uniqueness of solutions for our differential system.     

A novel finite volume method for the Riesz space distributed-order advection–diffusion equation

In this paper, we investigate the finite volume method (FVM) for a distributed-order space-fractional advection–diffusion (AD) equation. The mid-point quadrature rule is used to approximate the distributed-order equation by a multi-term fractional model. Next, the transformed multi-term fractional equation is solved by discretizing in space by the finite volume method and in time using the Crank–Nicolson scheme. We use a novel technique to deal with the convection term, by which the Riesz fractional derivative of order 0 < γ < 1 is transformed into a fractional integral form. An important contribution of our work is the use of nodal basis function to derive the discrete form of our model. The unique solvability of the scheme is also discussed and we prove that the Crank–Nicolson scheme is unconditionally stable and convergent with second-order accuracy. Finally, we give some examples to show the effectiveness of the numerical method.     

Analytic solution of a class of fractional differential equations with variable coefficients by operatorial methods

In this note we show the analytic solution of a class of fractional differential equations with variable coefficients by using operatorial methods. Taking inspiration from previous papers by Dattoli et al. [4], [5] and [6] about spectral properties of Laguerre derivative, we here generalize some of their results to fractional evolution equations. Besides that, we have two interesting generalized examples. One is about telegraph equation with time dependent coefficient. The other, that could be of some interest for realistic applications, is the fractional diffusion with a space-dependent diffusion coefficient.     

Preliminary tests of a hybrid numerical-asymptotic method for solving nonlinear advection-diffusion equations in a domain limited by a self-adjusting boundary

An advection-diffusion equation is examined in which the diffusion coefficient is proportional to a positive power of the dependent variable, h. Because the diffusion coefficient is zero where h is zero, it is believed that the domain where h ≠ 0 expands at a finite velocity, u_η, which must be calculated in an appropriate way if an accurate numerical solution technique is to be implemented. An asymptotic study leads to a local approximation of u_η. The latter is then utilized in a finite volume solution of an axisymmetric problem where an exact solution can be obtained. The accuracy of the numerical results is excellent. Some peculiarities of the numerical solution are highlighted, and it is shown that they are due to the simplistic nature of the axisymmetric problem solved, which may be partly responsible for the high quality of the numerical results. Although the preliminary results are very encouraging, further testing of the method is needed, especially in fully two-dimensional cases.     

Analytical solution for the space fractional diffusion equation by two-step Adomian Decomposition Method

Spatially fractional order diffusion equations are generalizations of classical diffusion equations which are increasingly used in modeling practical superdiffusive problems in fluid flow, finance and other areas of application. This paper presents the analytical solutions of the space fractional diffusion equations by two-step Adomian Decomposition Method (TSADM). By using initial conditions, the explicit solutions of the equations have been presented in the closed form and then their solutions have been represented graphically. Two examples, the first one is one-dimensional and the second one is two-dimensional fractional diffusion equation, are presented to show the application of the present technique. The solutions obtained by the standard decomposition method have been numerically evaluated and presented in the form of tables and then compared with those obtained by TSADM. The present TSADM performs extremely well in terms of efficiency and simplicity.     

Inverse problem for a space‐time fractional diffusion equation: Application of fractional Sturm‐Liouville operator

An inverse problem of determining a time‐dependent source term from the total energy measurement of the system (the over‐specified condition) for a space‐time fractional diffusion equation is considered. The space‐time fractional diffusion equation is obtained from classical diffusion equation by replacing time derivative with fractional‐order time derivative and Sturm‐Liouville operator by fractional‐order Sturm‐Liouville operator. The existence and uniqueness results are proved by using eigenfunction expansion method. Several special cases are discussed, and particular examples are provided.     

The transport dynamics in complex systems governing by anomalous diffusion modelled with Riesz fractional partial differential equations

In this paper, numerical solutions of fractional Fokker–Planck equations with Riesz space fractional derivatives have been developed. Here, the fractional Fokker–Planck equations have been considered in a finite domain. In order to deal with the Riesz fractional derivative operator, shifted Grünwald approximation and fractional centred difference approaches have been used. The explicit finite difference method and Crank–Nicolson implicit method have been applied to obtain the numerical solutions of fractional diffusion equation and fractional Fokker–Planck equations, respectively. Numerical results are presented to demonstrate the accuracy and effectiveness of the proposed numerical solution techniques. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Flows and functional inequalities for fractional operators

This paper collects results concerning global rates and large time asymptotics of a fractional fast diffusion equation on the Euclidean space, which is deeply related with a family of fractional Gagliardo–Nirenberg–Sobolev inequalities. Generically, self-similar solutions are not optimal for the Gagliardo–Nirenberg–Sobolev inequalities, in strong contrast with usual standard fast diffusion equations based on non-fractional operators. Various aspects of the stability of the self-similar solutions and of the entropy methods like carré du champ and Rényi entropy powers methods are investigated and raise a number of open problems.     

Unstructured mesh finite difference/finite element method for the 2D time-space Riesz fractional diffusion equation on irregular convex domains

Fractional differential equations are powerful tools to model the non-locality and spatial heterogeneity evident in many real-world problems. Although numerous numerical methods have been proposed, most of them are limited to regular domains and uniform meshes. For irregular convex domains, the treatment of the space fractional derivative becomes more challenging and the general methods are no longer feasible. In this work, we propose a novel numerical technique based on the Galerkin finite element method (FEM) with an unstructured mesh to deal with the space fractional derivative on arbitrarily shaped convex and non-convex domains, which is the most original and significant contribution of this paper. Moreover, we present a second order finite difference scheme for the temporal fractional derivative. In addition, the stability and convergence of the method are discussed and numerical examples on different irregular convex domains and non-convex domains illustrate the reliability of the method. We also extend the theory and develop a computational model for the case of a multiply-connected domain. Finally, to demonstrate the versatility and applicability of our method, we solve the coupled two-dimensional fractional Bloch–Torrey equation on a human brain-like domain and exhibit the effects of the time and space fractional indices on the behaviour of the transverse magnetization.     

On a fractional sublinear elliptic equation with a variable coefficient

We study the existence and uniqueness of bounded weak solutions to a fractional sublinear elliptic equation with a variable coefficient, in the whole space. Existence is investigated in connection to a certain fractional linear equation, whereas the proof of uniqueness relies on uniqueness of weak solutions to an associated fractional porous medium equation with variable density.