A Finite Element Method With Singularity Reconstruction for Fractional Boundary Value Problems

Abstract: We consider a two-point boundary value problem involving a Riemann-Liouville fractional derivative of order $\al\in (1,2)$ in the leading term on the unit interval $(0,1)$. Generally the standard Galerkin finite element method can only give a low-order convergence even if the source term is very smooth due to the presence of the singularity term $x^{\al-1}$ in the solution representation. In order to enhance the convergence, we develop a simple singularity reconstruction strategy by splitting the solution into a singular part and a regular part, where the former captures explicitly the singularity. We derive a new variational formulation for the regular part, and establish that the Galerkin approximation of the regular part can achieve a better convergence order in the $L^2(0,1)$, $H^{\al/2}(0,1)$ and $L^\infty(0,1)$-norms than the standard Galerkin approach, with a convergence rate for the recovered singularity strength identical with the $L^2(0,1)$ error estimate. The reconstruction approach is very flexible in handling explicit singularity, and it is further extended to the case of a Neumann type boundary condition on the left end point, which involves a strong singularity $x^{\al-2}$. Extensive numerical results confirm the theoretical study and efficiency of the proposed approach.