Abstract
In this article, the piecewise-linear finite element method (FEM) is applied to approximate the solution of time-fractional diffusion equations on bounded convex domains. Standard energy arguments do not provide satisfactory results for such a problem due to the low regularity of its exact solution. Using a delicate energy analysis, a priori optimal error bounds in (Formula presented.)-, (Formula presented.)-norms, and a quasi-optimal bound in (Formula presented.)-norm are derived for the semidiscrete FEM for cases with smooth and nonsmooth initial data. The main tool of our analysis is based on a repeated use of an integral operator and use of a (Formula presented.) type of weights to take care of the singular behavior of the continuous solution at (Formula presented.). The generalized Leibniz formula for fractional derivatives is found to play a key role in our analysis. Numerical experiments are presented to illustrate some of the theoretical results.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 1-17 |
Number of pages | 17 |
Journal | Journal of Scientific Computing |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Accepted/In press - May 19 2017 |
Keywords
- Energy argument error analysis
- Finite elements
- Fractional diffusion equation
- Nonsmooth data
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Theoretical Computer Science
- Software
- Engineering(all)
- Computational Theory and Mathematics