A semi-discrete finite element method for a class of time-fractional diffusion equations

DOI10.1098/RSTA.2012.0268zbMATH Open1339.65156arXiv1109.0641OpenAlexW2950965409WikidataQ51237589 ScholiaQ51237589MaRDI QIDQ2809803FDOQ2809803

Authors: Wen Chen, HongGuang Sun, K. Y. Sze 

Publication date: 30 May 2016

Published in: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A. Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: As fractional diffusion equations can describe the early breakthrough and the heavy-tail decay features observed in anomalous transport of contaminants in groundwater and porous soil, they have been commonly employed in the related mathematical descriptions. These models usually involve long-time range computation, which is a critical obstacle for its application, improvement of the computational efficiency is of great significance. In this paper, a semi-analytical method is presented for solving a class of time-fractional diffusion equations which overcomes the critical long-time range computation problem of time fractional differential equations. In the procedure, the spatial domain is discretized by the finite element method which reduces the fractional diffusion equations into approximate fractional relaxation equations. As analytical solutions exist for the latter equations, the burden arising from long-time range computation can effectively be minimized. To illustrate its efficiency and simplicity, four examples are presented. In addition, the method is employed to solve the time-fractional advection-diffusion equation characterizing the bromide transport process in a fractured granite aquifer. The prediction closely agrees with the experimental data and the heavy-tail decay of anomalous transport process is well-represented.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1109.0641

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zbMATH Keywords

Mittag-Leffler functionfinite element methodnumerical examplesemidiscretizationtime-fractional diffusion equationanomalous transporttime-fractional advection-diffusion equation

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Initial-boundary value problems for second-order parabolic equations (35K20) Fractional partial differential equations (35R11) Method of lines for initial value and initial-boundary value problems involving PDEs (65M20) Finite element, Rayleigh-Ritz and Galerkin methods for initial value and initial-boundary value problems involving PDEs (65M60)

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Cited In (25)

• Analytical solutions of fractional order diffusion equations by natural transform method
• Fractional calculus and its applications
• On steady and large time solutions of the semi-discrete Moving Finite Element equations for one-dimensional diffusion problems
• Efficient numerical methods for the nonlinear two-sided space-fractional diffusion equation with variable coefficients
• Numerical approximation of distributed order reaction-diffusion equations
• Error analysis of semidiscrete finite element methods for inhomogeneous time-fractional diffusion
• Numerical Solution of the Time-Fractional Sub-Diffusion Equation on an Unbounded Domain in Two-Dimensional Space
• A finite element approximation for a class of Caputo time-fractional diffusion equations
• Efficient numerical schemes for fractional sub-diffusion equation with the spatially variable coefficient
• MEMORY EFFECT ANALYSIS USING PIECEWISE CUBIC B-SPLINE OF TIME FRACTIONAL DIFFUSION EQUATION
• Analysis of a new finite difference/local discontinuous Galerkin method for the fractional Cattaneo equation
• Invariant subspaces and exact solutions: \((1+1)\) and \((2+1)\)-dimensional generalized time-fractional thin-film equations
• Approximation of Caputo time-fractional diffusion equation using redefined cubic exponential B-spline collocation technique
• High-order methods for systems of fractional ordinary differential equations and their application to time-fractional diffusion equations
• Compact finite-difference method for 2D time-fractional convection-diffusion equation of groundwater pollution problems
• Generalized finite difference method for a class of multidimensional space-fractional diffusion equations
• A space-time backward substitution method for three-dimensional advection-diffusion equations
• Exponentially fitted methods for solving time fractional nonlinear reaction-diffusion equation
• Robust normalization and stabilization of descriptor fractional-order systems with uncertainties in all matrices
• A Semidiscrete Finite Element Approximation of a Time-Fractional Fokker--Planck Equation with NonSmooth Initial Data
• A new Mittag-Leffler function undetermined coefficient method and its applications to fractional homogeneous partial differential equations
• A fast semi-discrete Kansa method to solve the two-dimensional spatiotemporal fractional diffusion equation
• Moving Finite Element Methods for a System of Semi-Linear Fractional Diffusion Equations
• Generalized finite difference method with irregular mesh for a class of three-dimensional variable-order time-fractional advection-diffusion equations
• An inverse problem for a time-fractional advection equation associated with a nonlinear reaction term

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