International Journal of the Physical Sciences Vol. 6(5), pp.

1203-1206, 4 March, 2011

Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/IJPS
ISSN 1992 - 1950 ©2011 Academic Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Differential transform method for nonlinear fractional

gas dynamics equation
Jafar Biazar1 and Mostafa Eslami2*
1
Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Rasht Branch, Iran.
2
Member of Young Researchers Club, Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Sciences, Islamic Azad University,
Rasht Branch, Iran.
Accepted 25 February, 2011

In the present study, an analytic solution of nonlinear fractional gas dynamics equation was deduced
with the help of the powerful differential transform method (DTM). To illustrate the ability and efficiency
of the method, two special cases of the equation has been solved

Key words: Differential transform method, nonlinear fractional gas dynamics equation.

INTRODUCTION

In recent years, considerable interest in fractional
differential equations has been stimulated due to their
numerous applications in the areas of physics and
engineering (West, 2003). Many important phenomena in
electromagnetic, acoustics, viscoelasticity, and electro-
chemistry and material science are well described by
differential equations of fractional order (Miller, 1993;
Samko, 1993; Podlubny, 1999; Caputo, 1967). A homo-
geneous nonlinear fractional gas dynamics equation can
be written as follows:
∂α u 1 2
+ (u ) x
∂t α 2
−u (1 − u ) = 0, t > 0, 0 < α ≤ 1,
with initial condition u ( x, 0) = g ( x). In case of α = 1, ,
Equation (1) reduces to the classical gas dynamics
equation (Adomian, 1994; Evans, 2002). The purpose of
this paper is to obtain analytic solution of this equation by
DTM. The differential transform method was first
introduced by Zhou (1986) who solved linear and
nonlinear initial value problems in electric circuit analysis.
This method constructs an analytical solution in form of
polynomial expressions such as Taylor series expansion.
But procedure is easier than the traditional higher order
Taylor series method, which requires symbolic compu-
tation of the necessary derivatives of the data functions.
The Taylor series method is computationally expensive
for higher orders. The differential transform is an iterative
procedure for obtaining analytic Taylor series solution of
ordinary or partial differential equations.
BASIC DEFINITIONS
Here, some basic definitions and properties of the
fractional calculus theory which can be found in Podlubny
(1999); Caputo (1967).
(1)
Definition 1. A real function f ( x), x > 0, in the space
Cµ , µ ∈ R if there exists a real number p > µ , such that
f ( x) = x p f1 ( x ) where f1 ( x) ∈ C[0, ∞] and it is said to be in
the space Cµm if f (m) ∈ Cµ , m ∈ N .
Definition 2. The Riemann–Liouville fractional integral
operator of order α ≥ 0, of a function f ∈ C µ , µ ≥ −1, is
defined as
J α f ( x) =
1 x
( x − t )α −1 f (t ) dt , α > 0, x > 0,
Γ (α ) 0

*Corresponding author. E-mail: m.eslami@guilan.ac.ir,

eslami_mostafa@yahoo.com. J 0 f ( x ) = f ( x ).
1204 Int. J. Phys. Sci.

The properties of the operator J α can be found in For more information on the mathematical properties of
Momani (2006), and we only mentioned the following (in fractional derivatives and integrals, one can consult the
this case, f ∈ Cµ , µ ≥ −1, α , β ≥ 0 and γ > −1 ): mentioned references.

(1) J α J β f ( x) = J α + β f ( x), GENERALIZED TWO-DIMENSIONAL DIFFERENTIAL

α β β α TRANSFORM METHOD
(2) J J f ( x) = J J f ( x),
Γ(γ + 1) α + γ DTM is an analytic method based on the Taylor series
(3) J α xγ = x .
Γ(α + γ + 1) expansion which constructs an analytical solution in the
form of a polynomial. The traditional high order Taylor
The Riemann–Liouville derivative has certain disadvan- series method requires symbolic computation. However,
tages, in trying way to model real-world phenomena with the DTM obtains a polynomial series solution by means
fractional differential equations. Therefore, we shall of an iterative procedure. The method is well addressed
introduce a modified fractional differential operator by Odibat (2006). The proposed method is based on the
D∗α proposed by M. Caputo, in his work on the theory of combination of the classical two dimensional DTM and
viscoelasticity. generalized Taylor’s Table 1 formula.
Consider a function of two variables u ( x, y ) , and
Definition 3. The fractional derivative of f ( x) in the suppose that it can be represented as a product of two
Caputo sense is defined as single-variable functions, that is, u ( x, y ) = f ( x) g ( y ) .
Based on the properties of generalized two-dimensional
D∗α f ( x) = J m −α D m f ( x ) = differential transform (Jang, 2001; Kangalgil, 2009; Ravi,
1 x 2009; Arikoglu, 2009), the function u ( x, y ) can be
( x − t ) m −α −1 f ( m ) (t )dt , represented as:
Γ( m − α ) 0

for m − 1 < α ≤ m, m ∈ N , x > 0, f ∈ C−m1 . u ( x, y )

∞ ∞
= Fα (k )( x − x0 ) kα Gβ (h)( y − y0 )hβ (2)
The following two properties of this operator will be used k =0 h =0
in what follows; ∞ ∞
= U α , β (k , h)( x − x0 )kα ( y − y0 ) hβ ,
k =0 h=0
Lemma 1. If m − 1 < α ≤ m, and f ∈ Cµm , µ ≥ −1, then
m −1
xk where 0 < α , β ≤ 1,U α , β ( k , h ) = Fα ( k )Gβ ( h ) is called the
D∗α J α f ( x ) = f ( x ), and J α D∗α f ( x) = f ( x) − f (0+ ) , x > 0.
k =0 k! spectrum of u ( x, y ) . The generalized two-dimensional
differential transform of the function u ( x, y ) is given by
The Caputo fractional derivative is considered here,
because it allows traditional initial and boundary condi-
tions to be included in the formulation of the problem. In 1
Uα,β (k, h) =
this study, we have considered nonlinear fractional gas Γ(αk +1)Γ(βh +1)
dynamics equation, where the unknown function (3)
u = u ( x, t ) is assumed to be a causal function of fractional × (D∗αx0 )k (D∗βy0 )h u ( x, y) ,
( x0 , y0 )
derivatives taken in Caputo sense as follows:

Definition 4. For m as the smallest integer that where (D∗αx0 )k = D∗αx0 D∗αx0 .
exceeds α , the Caputo time-fractional derivative operator k
of order α > 0, is defined as
In case of α = 1, and β = 1 the generalized two-
∂α u ( x, t ) dimensional differential transform (2) reduces to the
D∗αt u ( x, t ) = =
∂t α classical two-dimensional differential transform. Let
U α , β ( k , h ), Gα , β ( k , h), Vα , β (k , h) and H α , β ( k , h ) are the
1 t ∂ m u ( x,τ )
(t − τ ) m −α −1 dτ , m − 1 < α < m, differential transformations of the functions
Γ(m − α ) 0 ∂τ m
u ( x, y ), g ( x, y ), v( x, y ) and h( x, y ), from Equations (2) and
∂ m u ( x, t )
, α = m ∈ N. (3), some basic properties of the two-dimensional
∂t m differential transform are introduced in Table 1. Then, the
 Biazar and Eslami 1205

Table 1. The operations for the two-dimensional differential transform method.

Original function Transformed function

u (x , y ) = g (x , y ) ± h (x , y ) U α , β (k , h ) = G α , β (k , h ) ± H α , β (k , h )
u (x , y ) = λ g (x , y ) U α ,β ( k , h ) = λG α ,β (k , h )
k h
u (x , y ) = g (x , y )h (x , y ) U α ,β ( k , h ) = G α ,β ( r , h − s ) H α ,β ( k − r , s )
r =0 s = 0

1, k = m , h = n
u ( x , y ) = (x − x 0 ) mα ( y − y 0 ) n β U α ,β ( k , h ) = δ ( k − m , h − n ) =
o otherwise
k k −r h h −s
u ( x , y ) = g ( x , y ) h ( x , y )v ( x , y ) U α ,β (k , h ) = G α ,β ( r , h − s − p )H α ,β (t , s )V α ,β (k − r − t , p )
r =0 t =0 s = 0 p =0

Γ(α (k + 1) + 1)
u ( x , y ) = D ∗αx 0 g ( x , y ), 0 < α ≤ 1 U α ,β ( k , h ) = G α ,β (k + 1, h )
Γ(α k + 1)

generalized differential transform (3) becomes; Taking the differential transform of (4), leads to;

Uα ,β (k, h) = Γ(α (h + 1) + 1)
Uα ,1 (k , h + 1)
1 Γ(α h + 1)
D∗αxk0 (D∗βy0 )h u( x, y . k h
Γ(α k +1)Γ(β h +1) ( x0 , y0 )
+ (r + 1)Uα ,1 (r + 1, h − s)Uα ,1 (k − r, s)
r =0 s = 0
If u( x, y) = Dx0 v( x, y), m − 1 < γ ≤ m, and v( x, y) = f ( x) f ( y),
γ k h
−Uα ,1 (k , h) + Uα ,1 (r, h − s)Uα ,1 (k − r, s).
then r = 0 s =0

Γ(αk + γ +1) From the initial condition given by Equation (5), we

Uα ,β (k, h) = Vα ,β (k + γ / α, h). obtained;
Γ(αk +1)

The proofs of these properties can be found in Momani (−1)k

Uα ,1 (k ,0) = , k = 0,1, 2,
(2006), Jang (2001), Momani (2007). k!

Substituting all U (k , h) into Equation (2), the series

NUMERICAL EXAMPLE solution form will be obtained;

Here, differential transform method (DTM) will be applied

x 2 x3
for solving nonlinear gas dynamics equation. The results u( x, t ) = (1 − x +
− )
reveal that the method is very effective and simple. 2! 3!
tα t 2α t 3α
Example 1. Consider the following gas dynamics ×(1 + + + + )
equation with the following initial condition Γ(α + 1) Γ(2α + 1) Γ(3α + 1)
∞
(tα )k
α = e− x .
∂u 1 2 k =0 Γ(kα + 1)
+ (u )x − u(1− u) = 0, (4)
∂tα 2
t−x
As α = 1, this series has the closed form e , which is
−x
u(x,0) = e . (5) an exact solution of the classical gas dynamics equation.
1206 Int. J. Phys. Sci.

Example 2. In this example, consider inhomogeneous CONCLUSION

fractional gas dynamics equation
In this study, application of DTM to fractional gas
α
∂ u 1 2 dynamics equation has been presented successfully. The
+ (u ) x + (1 + t ) 2 u 2 = x 2 , (6) results show that differential transform method is a
∂t α 2
powerful and efficient technique for finding analytic
solutions for nonlinear partial differential equations of
with initial condition,
fractional order. The obtained results reinforce the con-
clusions made by many researchers about the efficiency
u ( x,0) = x. (7) of DTM. In this study, we used the Maple Package, to
calculate the series obtained by differential transform
One can readily find the differential transform of (6), as method.
follows,

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