An extended variational iteration method for fractional BVPs encountered in engineering applications

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to find approximate solutions for a general class of fractional order boundary value problems that arise in engineering applications.Design/methodology/approachA newly developed semi-analytical scheme will be applied to find approximate solutions for fractional order boundary value problems. The technique is regarded as an extension of the well-established variation iteration method, which was originally proposed for initial value problems, to cover a class of boundary value problems.FindingsIt has been demonstrated that the method yields approximations that are extremely accurate and have uniform distributions of error throughout their domain. The numerical examples confirm the method’s validity and relatively fast convergence.Originality/valueThe generalized variational iteration method that is presented in this study is a novel strategy that can handle fractional boundary value problem more effectively than the classical variational iteration method, which was designed for initial value problems.