Applied Mathematical Sciences, Vol. 8, 2014, no.

155, 7715 - 7726

HIKARI Ltd, www.m-hikari.com
http://dx.doi.org/10.12988/ams.2014.49754

Approximate Analytical Solutions of Strongly

Nonlinear Fractional BBM-Burgers Equations
with Dissipative Term
Mukiawa Edwin Soh, Cyril Dennis Enyi, Olaniyi Samuel Iyiola
and Johnson Daddy Audu
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, KFUPM
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
c 2014 Mukiawa Edwin Soh et al. This is an open access article distributed
Copyright
under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract
In this article, we study and implement a relatively new analytical
technique called q-Homotopy Analysis Method on the strongly nonlinear
fractional BBM-Burgers equations with dissipative term. We obtain
analytically, approximate solutions with two different initial conditions
in the form of convergent series with easily computable components. For
some special cases on the coefficient of the dissipative term, comparison
is made with the exact solution and the solution obtained using other
existing analytical methods. Our numerical analysis shows that this
method is easy to implement and accurate when applied to strongly
nonlinear partial (fractional) differential equations due to the presence
of the auxiliary parameter h and the fraction factor.

Keywords: Fractional Derivative; q-Homotopy Analysis Method; Strongly

Nonlinear BBM-Burgers Equation; Dissipative Term

Introduction

Fractional differential equation is a fascinating area of study in mathematics.

Over the past decades, many methods have been developed to handle these
differential equations. Some of the methods available to solve linear fractional

7716

Mukiawa Edwin Soh et al.

differential equations are: the Laplace Transform Method [18], the Fourier
Transform Method [12], the Iteration Method [20], the Operational Method
[7], and Combined Fractional Integral Transform Methods [8]. However, most
fractional differential equations are strongly nonlinear and in most cases do not
have exact solution. Hence, some numerical and analytical methods have been
developed to obtain approximate solutions to these class of equations. These
methods include: The Adomian Decomposition Method, (ADM), Variational
Iteration Method, (VIM), Homotopy Perturbation Method. (HPM) see [2, 3,
4, 6, 17, 21].
A noticeable weakness in these numerical methods is the convergence regions of the results obtained which is usually small. To overcome the weakness,
Liao [14] in 1992 proposed a general analytic method for nonlinear problems,
called the Homotopy Analysis Method (HAM). The quest to further expand
the convergence region led to a modified HAM called q-HAM proposed in [5]
see also [9, 10, 11]. In addition to the auxiliary parameter h present in HAM,
q-HAM contains a fraction factor that gives it much flexibility to adjust and
control the convergence region and rate of convergence of the series of solution.
The main focus of this paper is to take advantage of this method to obtain numerical solutions of time-fractional strongly nonlinear BBM-Burgers
equations with dissipative term. Many authors have considered this type of
equation with different analytical methods, some of which are special cases of
the problem proposed in the paper see [1, 3, 6, 13]. Computation is done here
using Mathematica and MATLAB.

Preliminaries

In this section, we present the necessary tools for the actualization of the aim
of this paper including definitions and some known results. Caputos fractional
derivative is adopted in our computation. The initial conditions are given in
terms of the field variables and their integer order which is the case in many
physical processes.
Definition 2.1 The Riemann-Liouvilles (RL) fractional integral operator of
order 0, of a function f L1 (a, b) is given as
Z t
1

(t )1 f ( )d, t > 0, > 0,

(1)
J f (t) =
() 0
where is the Gamma function and J 0 f (t) = f (t).
Definition 2.2 The Riemann-Liouvilles (RL) fractional derivative of order
0 < < 1, of a function f is
D0+ f (t) = DJ01
+ f (t).

(2)

7717

Approximate analytical solutions

provided the right-hand side exists where D = d/dt.

Definition 2.3 The fractional derivative in the Caputos sense is defined as
[19],

D f (t) = J

1
D f (t) =
(n )
n

(t )n1 f (n) ( )d,

(3)

where n 1 < n, n N, t > 0.

Lemma 2.1 Let 0, 0 and f CL(a, b). Then
Ja J f (t) = Ja+ f (t), f or all t (a, b]

(4)

Lemma 2.2 Let t (a, b]. Then



Ja (t a) (t) =

( + 1)
(t a)+ ,
( + + 1)

> 0,

> 0.

(5)

The Idea of q-Homotopy Analysis Method (qHAM)

Differential equation of the form

N [Dt u(x, t)] f (x, t) = 0

(6)

is considered, where N is a non-linear operator, Dt denote the Caputo fractional derivative, (x, t) are independent variables, f is a known function and u
is an unknown function. To generalize the original homotopy method, Liao [15]
construct what is generally known as the zeroth-order deformation equation
(1 nq)L ((x, t; q) u0 (x, t)) = qhH(x, t) (N [Dt (x, t; q)] f (x, t)) , (7)


where n > 1, q 0, n1 denotes the so-called embedded parameter, L ia an
auxiliary linear operator, h 6= 0 is an auxiliary parameter, H(x, t) is a non-zero
auxiliary function.
It is clearly seen that when q = 0 and q = n1 , equation (7) becomes
1
(x, t; 0) = u0 (x, t) and (x, t; ) = u(x, t)
n

(8)

respectively. So, as q increases from 0 to n1 , the solution (x, t; q) varies from

the initial guess u0 (x, t) to the solution u(x, t).

7718

Mukiawa Edwin Soh et al.

If u0 (x, t), L, h, H(x,

are chosen appropriately, solution (x, t; q) of equa t)
1
tion(7) exists for q 0, n .
Expansion of (x, t; q) in Taylor series gives
(x, t; q) = u0 (x, t) +

um (x, t)q m .

(9)

m=1

where


1 m (x, t; q) 
um (x, t) =
 .
m!
q m
q=0

(10)

Assume that the auxiliary linear operator L, the initial guess u0 , the auxiliary
parameter h and H(x, t) are properly chosen such that the series 9 converges
at q = n1 , then we have
 m

X
1
u(x, t) = u0 (x, t) +
um (x, t)
.
(11)
n
m=1
Let the vector ~un be define as follows:
~un = {u0 (x, t), u1 (x, t), , un (x, t)} .

(12)

Differentiating equation (7) m-times with respect to the (embedding) parameter q, then evaluating at q = 0 and finally dividing them by m!, we have what
is known as the mth -order deformation equation (Liao [15, 16]) as
L [um (x, t) m um1 (x, t)] = hH(x, t)Rm (~um1 ) .

(13)

with initial conditions

u(k)
m (x, 0) = 0,

k = 0, 1, 2, ..., m 1.

(14)

where

m1 (N [Dt (x, t; q)] f (x, t)) 
1
Rm (~um1 ) =

(m 1)!
q m1
q=0

(15)

and

m =

m61
(16)
otherwise,

Remark 3.1 It should be noted that um (x, t) for m > 1, is governed by the
linear operator (13) with the linear boundary conditions that come from the
original problem.

7719

Approximate analytical solutions

m
gives more chances for betRemark 3.2 The existence of the factor n1
ter convergence, faster that the solution obtained by the standard Homotopy
method. Off course, when n = 1, we are in the case of the standard homotopy
method.

The time-fractional BBM-Burgers Equation

We consider the time-fractional BBM-Burgers equation of general type

Dt u uxxt uxx + ux + uux = 0 , t > 0

, 0 < 1,

(17)

subject to initial condition

u(x, 0) = g(x).
u(x, t) in this equation represents the velocity of the fluid under consideration
in the x-coordinate, uxx is called the dissipative term with coefficient used
for a good predictive power. This type of equation arises from water wave and
bore propagation.
To use q-HAM to solve equation (17), we choose the linear operator
L[(x, t; q)] = Dt (x, t; q)

(18)

with property that L[c1 ] = 0, c1 is constant.

We use initial approximation u0 (x, t) = g(x) and define the nonlinear operator as
N [(x, t; q)] = Dt (x, t; q)xxt (x, t; q)xx (x, t; q)+x (x, t; q)+(x, t; q)x (x, t; q).
(19)
We construct the zeroth order deformation equation
(1 nq)L [(x, t; q) u0 (x, t)] = qhH(x, t)N [Dt (x, t; q)] .

(20)

We choose H(x, t) = 1 to obtain the mth-order deformation equation to be

L [um (x, t) m um1 (x, t)] = hRm (~um1 ) .
with initial condition for m > 1, um (x, 0) = 0,

m61
0
m =

n
otherwise,

(21)

(22)

and
Rm (~um1 ) =

Dt um1 u(m1)xxt u(m1)xx +u(m1)x +

m1
X
k=0

uk u(m1k)x . (23)

7720

Mukiawa Edwin Soh et al.

So, the solution to the equation (17) for m > 1 becomes

um (x, t) = m um1 + hJ [Rm (~um1 )] .

(24)

The series solution expression by q-HAM is written in the form

u(x, t; n; h)
= UM (x, t; n; h) = sin(x) +

M
X
i=1

4.1

 i
1
ui (x, t; n; h)
n

(25)

Case I

Here we consider equation (17) with u(x, 0) = g(x) = sin(x).

It should be noted that the resulted problem in this case was considered in
[3] using Adomian Decomposition Method.
Using equation (24) with initial approximation u0 (x, t) = sin(x), we obtain
the components of the series solution using q-HAM successively as follows
t
t
t
+ h cos x
+ h sin 2x
(26)
( + 1)
( + 1)
2( + 1)
t21
u2 (x, t) = h(n + h)u1 + h2 ( sin x + cos x + 2 sin 2x)
(2)


t2
+h2 (2 1) sin x + 2 cos x + cos 2x + 3 sin 2x
(2 + 1)
t2
+h2 (cos2 x sin2 x + sin x cos 2x + sin x cos2 x)
. (27)
(2 + 1)
u1 (x, t) = h sin x

In the same way, um (x, t) for m = 3, 4, can be obtained using Mathematica.

Then the series solution expression by q-HAM can be written in the form
u(x, t; n; h)
= UM (x, t; n; h) = sin(x) +

M
X
i=1

 i
1
ui (x, t; n; h)
n

(28)

Equation (28) is an appropriate solution to the problem (17) with the given
initial condition in terms of convergence parameter h and n.

4.2

Case II

We consider equation (17) with u(x, 0) = g(x) = sech2 x4 .
In this case, the exact solution for = 1 and = 0 is known to be


x t
2
u(x, t) = sech

.
4 4

(29)

7721

Approximate analytical solutions

This problem with = 1 and = 0 was considered in [6] using HAM and
the fractional case with = 0 was considered in [13] using Homotopy Analysis
Transform Method, HATM.
Applying
q-HAM, we use equation (24) with initial approximation u0 (x, t) =


2 x
sech 4 . Hence, we obtain the components of the series solution using qHAM successively as follows
x
x
 1
 x 
h 
t
u1 (x, t) =
cosh
2 + tanh
sech4
8
2
2
2
4 ( + 1)





1
x
x
t
tanh
sech2
(30)
2
2
4 ( + 1)
 x  t21
h
u2 (x, t) = (n + h)u1 (x, t) +
K(x, h, )sech7
256
4 (2)


2
h
x
t
F (x, h, )sech8
,
(31)

512
4 (2 + 1)


where



 
x
3x
5x
25hcosh
K(x, h, ) = 40hcosh
+ hcosh
228sinh
4
4
4
4
 
 
3x
5x
+14sinh
+ 2sinh
,
4
4
x

and
x

3x
2

x
2hsinh
+ 24hcosh (x)
F (x, h, ) = 150hsinh
15hcosh
2
2
 
 
x
3x
3x
hcosh
40h + 214sinh
16sinh(x) 2sinh
2
2
2
 
x
3x
92cosh
64cosh(x) 4cosh
+ 416.
2
2
In the same way, um (x, t) for m = 3, 4, can be obtained using Mathematica.
Then the series solution expression by q-HAM can be written in the form
 j
M
  X
1
2 x

u(x, t; n; h) = UM (x, t; n; h) = sech

+
uj (x, t; n; h)
4
n
j=1

(32)

Equation (32) is an appropriate solution to the problem (17) with the given
initial condition in terms of convergence parameter h and n.

7722

5
5.1

Mukiawa Edwin Soh et al.

Numerical Results and Discussion

Case I: q-HAM Solution and ADM Solution

Considering the solution obtained in [3] using ADM, we present some graphs
to compare the solutions. When = = 1, our problem coincide with that of
[3]. Figure 1 and Figure 2 give a good match considering the fact that 2-term
q-HAM is used against 3-term ADM.

Figure 1: 2-term q-HAM solution

plot of u for h = 1.2, n = 1, = 1
and = 1

5.2

Figure 2: 3-term ADM solution

plot of u for = 1 and = 1

Case II: q-HAM Solution and Exact Solution

In this case, we present the numerical results obtained to demonstrate the

effectiveness of the q-homotopy analysis method (q-HAM) presented in this
paper. Figure (3), Figure (4) and Figure (5) show the q-HAM and exact
solutions of the equation considered in case II for some appropriate values of
, n, and h.

Figure 3: The q-HAM Solution for

h = 1.5, = 0, n = 1 and = 1

Figure 4: The Exact Solution for

h = 1.5, = 0, n = 1 and = 1

Remark 5.1 The result obtained here by q-HAM does not only give a good
approximation to exact solution by taking only 2-term of the series but is in

Approximate analytical solutions

7723

Figure 5: The plot of u against x for fixed t = 0.1 with h = 1.5, = 0, n = 1

and = 1
good agreement to other methods such as ADM, Power Series Method, VIM,
HPM and so on used in the literature. These other methods have to use many
terms of their series solution in other to get as closer as possible.

5.3

Effect of on the 3-term q-HAM Solution

We also generate some plots in Figure(6) to display the effect of on the

solution obtained by q-HAM.

Figure 6: q-HAM solution for different values of with t = 0.1, h = 1.5,

n = 1 and = 0

Conclusion

A successful implementation of q-Homotopy Analysis Method has been carried

out to obtain approximate series solutions for the strongly nonlinear timefractional BBM-Burgers equations of general type with dissipative term. This
approach provides a very good approximation even with fewer terms than

7724

Mukiawa Edwin Soh et al.

other available analytical techniques. We further observed that the q-HAM is

more effective and reliable with a faster convergence rate. Without any doubt,
from our analysis, q-Homotopy Analysis Method is a very powerful tool in
obtaining good approximate solutions of strongly nonlinear partial (fractional)
differential equations especially those resulting from Engineering, Physics and
Astronomy.

Acknowledgement
The financial support received from King Fahd University of Petroleum and
Minerals (KFUPM) is gratefully acknowledged.

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Received: September 25, 2014; Published: November 3, 2014