Analytical aspect of fourth-order parabolic partial differential equations with variable coefficients (Q988493)

Summary: The homotopy analysis method (HAM) is applied to solve fourth-order parabolic partial differential equations. This equation practically arises in transverse vibration problems. The proposed iterative scheme finds the solution without any discritization, linearization, or restrictive assumptions. Some applications are given to verify the reliability and efficiency of the method. The convergence control parameter \(\hbar\) in the HAM solutions provides a convenient way of controlling the convergence region of series solutions. It is also shown that the solutions that are obtained by the Adomian decomposition method (ADM), and the variational iteration method (VIM) are special cases of the solutions obtained by HAM.