Wave propagation in a fractional viscoelastic Andrade medium: diffusive approximation and numerical modeling

This study focuses on the numerical modeling of wave propagation in fractionally-dissipative media. These viscoelastic models are such that the attenuation is frequency dependent and follows a power law with non-integer exponent. As a prototypical example, the Andrade model is chosen for its simplicity and its satisfactory fits of experimental flow laws in rocks and metals. The corresponding constitutive equation features a fractional derivative in time, a non-local term that can be expressed as a convolution product which direct implementation bears substantial memory cost. To circumvent this limitation, a diffusive representation approach is deployed, replacing the convolution product by an integral of a function satisfying a local time-domain ordinary differential equation. An associated quadrature formula yields a local-in-time system of partial differential equations, which is then proven to be well-posed. The properties of the resulting model are also compared to those of the original Andrade model. The quadrature scheme associated with the diffusive approximation, and constructed either from a classical polynomial approach or from a constrained optimization method, is investigated to finally highlight the benefits of using the latter approach. Wave propagation simulations in homogeneous domains are performed within a split formulation framework that yields an optimal stability condition and which features a joint fourth-order time-marching scheme coupled with an exact integration step. A set of numerical experiments is presented to assess the efficiency of the diffusive approximation method for such wave propagation problems.Comment: submitted to Wave Motio

An alternating direction implicit spectral method for solving two dimensional multi-term time fractional mixed diffusion and diffusion-wave equations

In this paper, we consider the initial boundary value problem of the two dimensional multi-term time fractional mixed diffusion and diffusion-wave equations. An alternating direction implicit (ADI) spectral method is developed based on Legendre spectral approximation in space and finite difference discretization in time. Numerical stability and convergence of the schemes are proved, the optimal error is $O(N^{-r}+\tau^2)$, where $N, \tau, r$ are the polynomial degree, time step size and the regularity of the exact solution, respectively. We also consider the non-smooth solution case by adding some correction terms. Numerical experiments are presented to confirm our theoretical analysis. These techniques can be used to model diffusion and transport of viscoelastic non-Newtonian fluids

Numerical methods for time-fractional evolution equations with nonsmooth data: a concise overview

Over the past few decades, there has been substantial interest in evolution equations that involving a fractional-order derivative of order $\alpha\in(0,1)$ in time, due to their many successful applications in engineering, physics, biology and finance. Thus, it is of paramount importance to develop and to analyze efficient and accurate numerical methods for reliably simulating such models, and the literature on the topic is vast and fast growing. The present paper gives a concise overview on numerical schemes for the subdiffusion model with nonsmooth problem data, which are important for the numerical analysis of many problems arising in optimal control, inverse problems and stochastic analysis. We focus on the following aspects of the subdiffusion model: regularity theory, Galerkin finite element discretization in space, time-stepping schemes (including convolution quadrature and L1 type schemes), and space-time variational formulations, and compare the results with that for standard parabolic problems. Further, these aspects are showcased with illustrative numerical experiments and complemented with perspectives and pointers to relevant literature.Comment: 24 pages, 3 figure

Diffusive approximation of a time-fractional Burger's equation in nonlinear acoustics

A fractional time derivative is introduced into the Burger's equation to model losses of nonlinear waves. This term amounts to a time convolution product, which greatly penalizes the numerical modeling. A diffusive representation of the fractional derivative is adopted here, replacing this nonlocal operator by a continuum of memory variables that satisfy local-in-time ordinary differential equations. Then a quadrature formula yields a system of local partial differential equations, well-suited to numerical integration. The determination of the quadrature coefficients is crucial to ensure both the well-posedness of the system and the computational efficiency of the diffusive approximation. For this purpose, optimization with constraint is shown to be a very efficient strategy. Strang splitting is used to solve successively the hyperbolic part by a shock-capturing scheme, and the diffusive part exactly. Numerical experiments are proposed to assess the efficiency of the numerical modeling, and to illustrate the effect of the fractional attenuation on the wave propagation.Comment: submitted to Siam SIA