Spline collocation methods for linear multi-term fractional differential equations

Abstract

Some regularity properties of the solution of linear multi-term fractional differential equations are derived. Based on these properties, the numerical solution of such equations by piecewise polynomial collocation methods is discussed. The results obtained in this paper extend the results of Pedas and Tamme (2011) [15] where we have assumed that in the fractional differential equation the order of the highest derivative of the unknown function is an integer. In the present paper, we study the attainable order of convergence of spline collocation methods for solving general linear fractional differential equations using Caputo form of the fractional derivatives and show how the convergence rate depends on the choice of the grid and collocation points. Theoretical results are verified by some numerical examples.