Finite Difference Method for Two-Sided Space-Fractional Partial Differential Equations

Abstract

Finite difference methods for solving two-sided space-fractional partial differential equations are studied. The space-fractional derivatives are the left-handed and right-handed Riemann-Liouville fractional derivatives which are expressed by using Hadamard finite-part integrals. The Hadamard finite-part integrals are approximated by using piecewise quadratic interpolation polynomials and a numerical approximation scheme of the space-fractional derivative with convergence order O(Δx^(3−α )),10 , where Δt,Δx denote the time and space step sizes, respectively. Numerical examples are presented and compared with the exact analytical solution for its order of convergence.