Optimal B-spline bases for the numerical solution of fractional differential problems

Efficient numerical methods to solve fractional differential problems are particularly required in order to approximate accurately the nonlocal behavior of the fractional derivative. The aim of the paper is to show how optimal B-spline bases allow us to construct accurate numerical methods that have a low computational cost. First of all, we describe in detail how to construct optimal B-spline bases on bounded intervals and recall their main properties. Then, we give the analytical expression of their derivatives of fractional order and use these bases in the numerical solution of fractional differential problems. Some numerical tests showing the good performances of the bases in solving a time-fractional diffusion problem by a collocation-Galerkin method are also displayed

On the numerical solution of fractional boundary value problems by a spline quasi-interpolant operator

Boundary value problems having fractional derivative in space are used in several fields, like biology, mechanical engineering, control theory, just to cite a few. In this paper we present a new numerical method for the solution of boundary value problems having Caputo derivative in space. We approximate the solution by the Schoenberg-Bernstein operator, which is a spline positive operator having shape-preserving properties. The unknown coefficients of the approximating operator are determined by a collocation method whose collocation matrices can be constructed efficiently by explicit formulas. The numerical experiments we conducted show that the proposed method is efficient and accurate

A collocation method based on discrete spline quasi-interpolatory operators for the solution of time fractional differential equations

In many applications, real phenomena are modeled by differential problems having a time fractional derivative that depends on the history of the unknown function. For the numerical solution of time fractional differential equations, we propose a new method that combines spline quasi-interpolatory operators and collocation methods. We show that the method is convergent and reproduces polynomials of suitable degree. The numerical tests demonstrate the validity and applicability of the proposed method when used to solve linear time fractional differential equations