Numerical Solution for Initial and Boundary Value Problems of Fractional Order

Abstract

Fractional calculus has been used in many fields , such as engineering, population, medicine, fluid mechanics and different fields of chemistry and physics. These fields were found to be best described using fractional differential equations (FDEs) to model their processes and equations. One of the well-known methods for solving fractional differential equations is the Shifted Legendre operational matrix (LOM) method. In this article, I proposed a numerical method based on Shifted Legendre polynomials for solving a class of fractional differential equations. A fractional order operational matrix of Legendre polynomials is also derived where the fractional derivatives are described by the Caputo derivative sense. By using the operational matrix , the initial and boundary equations are transformed into the products of several matrixes and by scattering the coefficients and the products of matrixes . I got a system of linear equations. Results obtained by using the proposed method (LOM) presented here show that the numerical method is very effective and appropriate for solving initial and boundary value problems of fractional ordinary differential equations. Moreover, some numerical examples are provided and the comparison is presented between the obtained results and those analytical results achieved that have proved the method’s validity.