Numerical Solutions of the Space-Time Fractional

Advection-Dispersion Equation
Shaher Momani,1, * Zaid Odibat2
1
Department of Mathematics, Mutah University, Mutah, Jordan
2
Prince Abdullah Bin Ghazi Faculty of Science and IT, Al-Balqa’ Applied University,
Salt, Jordan

Received 6 June 2006; accepted 1 February 2007

Published online 25 January 2008 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com).
DOI 10.1002/num.20324

Fractional advection-dispersion equations are used in groundwater hydrologhy to model the transport of
passive tracers carried by fluid flow in a porous medium. In this paper we present two reliable algorithms,
the Adomian decomposition method and variational iteration method, to construct numerical solutions of
the space-time fractional advection-dispersion equation in the form of a rabidly convergent series with easily
computable components. The fractional derivatives are described in the Caputo sense. Some examples are
given. Numerical results show that the two approaches are easy to implement and accurate when applied
to space-time fractional advection-dispersion equations. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial
Differential Eq 24: 1416–1429, 2008

Keywords: advection-dispersion equation; caputo fractional derivative; decomposition Method; fractional

derivatives; variational iteration method

I. INTRODUCTION

In recent years, it has turned out that many phenomena in engineering, physics, chemistry, and
other sciences can be described very successfully by models using mathematical tools from frac-
tional calculus, i.e. the theory of derivatives and integrals of fractional (noninteger) order. For
example, the nonlinear oscillation of earthquake can be modeled with fractional derivatives [1],
and the fluid-dynamic traffic model with fractional derivatives [2] can eliminate the deficiency
arising from the assumption of continuum traffic flow. On the basis of experimental data, frac-
tional partial differential equations for seepage flow in porous media are suggested in Ref. [3], and
differential equations with fractional order have recently proved to be valuable tools to the mod-
elling of many physical phenomena [4]. A review of some applications of fractional derivatives
in continuum and statistical mechanics is given by Mainardi [5].

Correspondence to: Shaher Momani, Department of Mathematics, Mutah University, Mutah, Jordan (e-mail: shahermm@
yahoo.com)
*On leave from Department of Mathematics, Mutah University, Jordan
© 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
 NUMERICAL SOLUTIONS OF ADVECTION-DISPERSION EQUATION 1417

Our concern in this work is to consider the numerical solution of the advection-dispersion
equation with time- and space-fractional derivatives of the form:

∂ α c(x, t) ∂ β c(x, t) ∂ 2β c(x, t)

= −υ + κ = 0, t > 0, x > 0, 0 < α, β ≤ 1, (1.1)
∂t α ∂x β ∂x 2β
where c is solute concentration, the positive constants υ, κ represent the average fluid velocity and
the dispersion coefficient, x is the spatial domain, t is time, and α and β are parameters describing
the order of the time- and space-fractional derivatives, respectively. The fractional derivatives are
considered in the Caputo sense. The general response expression contains parameters describ-
ing the order of the fractional derivatives that can be varied to obtain various responses. In the
case of α = β = 1, the fractional equation reduces to the classical advection-dispersion equa-
tion (ADE). The fundamental solutions of the ADE over time will be Gaussian densities with
means and variances based on the values of the macroscopic transport coefficients υ and κ. The
space-time fractional advection-dispersion equation has been recently treated by a number of
authors. Benson et al. [6] considered space fractional advection-dispersion equation. They gave
an analytical solution featuring the β-stable error function. Liu et al. [7] considered the time
fractional advection-dispersion equation and the solution was obtained by using variable trans-
formation, Mellin and Laplace transforms, and properties of H-functions. Recently, Huang and
Liu [8] considered the space-time fractional advection-dispersion equation and the solution was
obtained in terms of Green functions and the representations of the Green function by applying
the Fourier-Laplace transforms.
In this article, the space-time fractional advection-dispersion Eq. (1.1) subject to the initial
conditions

c(0, t) = f1 (t),
cx (0, t) = f2 (t), (1.2)
c(x, 0) = g(x),

will be approached differently. The Adomian decomposition method [9, 10] and the variational
iteration method [11–16] will be effectively used to approach (1.1). The two methods are rela-
tively new approaches to provide an analytical approximation to linear and nonlinear problems,
and they are particulary valuable as tools for scientists and applied mathematicians, because
they provide immediate and visible symbolic terms of analytic solutions, as well as numerical
approximate solutions to both linear and nonlinear differential equations without linearization or
discretization. In the literature, the decomposition method has been used to obtain approximate
solutions of a large class of linear or nonlinear differential equations (see Ref. [17] and the ref-
erences therein). Recently, the application of the method is extended for fractional differential
equations [18–22].
The variational iteration method, which proposed by He et al. [11–16], was successfully applied
to autonomous ordinary and partial differential equations [23–27] and other fields. He [12] was
the first to apply the variational iteration method to fractional differential equations. Recently,
Odibat and Momani [28] implemented the variational iteration method to solve nonlinear ordi-
nary differential equations of fractional order. A numerical comparison of the two methods for
solving linear differential equations of fractional order is given in [29].
The structure of this article is as follows. We begin by introducing some necessary definitions
and mathematical preliminaries of the fractional calculus theory which are required for establish-
ing our results. In Sections III and IV we extend the application of the decomposition method

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1418 MOMANI AND ODIBAT

and variational iteration method to construct our numerical solutions for the space-time fractional
advection-dispersion equation. In Section V, we present three examples to show the efficiency
and simplicity of the two methods.

II. BASIC DEFINITIONS

We give some basic definitions and properties of the fractional calculus theory which are used
further in this article.

Definition 2.1. A real function f (x), x > 0, is said to be 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 iff f (m) ∈ Cµ , m ∈ N.

Definition 2.2. The Riemann-Liouville fractional integral operator of order α ≥ 0, of a function

f ∈ Cµ , µ ≥ −1, is defined as

x
1
J α f (x) = (x − t)α−1 f (t)dt, α > 0, x > 0,
(α) 0
J 0 f (x) = f (x).

Properties of the operator J α can be found in [30–32], we mention only the following:
For f ∈ Cµ , µ ≥ −1, α, β ≥ 0 and γ > −1:

1. J α J β f (x) = J α+β f (x),

2. J α J β f (x) = J β J α f (x),
(γ +1)
3. J α x γ = (α+γ +1)
x α+γ .

The Riemann-Liouville derivative has certain disadvantages when trying to model real-world
phenomena with fractional differential equations. Therefore, we shall introduce a modified frac-
tional differential operator D∗α proposed by M. Caputo in his work on the theory of viscoelasticity
[33].

Definition 2.3. The fractional derivative of f (x) in the Caputo sense is defined as

x
1
D∗ f (x) = J
α
D f (x) =
m−α m
(x − t)m−α−1 f (m) (t)dt, (2.1)
(m − α) 0
for m − 1 < α ≤ m, m ∈ IN, x > 0, f ∈ C−1
m
.

Also, we need here two of its basic properties.

Lemma 2.1. If m − 1 < α ≤ m, m ∈ N and f ∈ Cµm , µ ≥ −1, then

D∗α J α f (x) = f (x),

and,

m−1
xk
J α D∗α f (x) = f (x) − f (k) (0+ ) , x > 0.
k=0
k!

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 NUMERICAL SOLUTIONS OF ADVECTION-DISPERSION EQUATION 1419

The Caputo fractional derivative is considered here because it allows traditional initial and
boundary conditions to be included in the formulation of the problem [34]. In this article, we
consider the one-dimensional space-time fractional advection-dispersion Eq. (1.1), where the
unknown function c(x, t) is assumed to be a causal function of time and space, i.e., vanishing for
t < 0 and x < 0. The fractional derivatives are taken in Caputo sense as follows:

Definition 2.4. For m to be the smallest integer that exceeds α, the Caputo time-fractional
derivative operator of order α > 0 is defined as
 t m
∂ α c(x, t)
1
(m−α) 0
(t − τ )m−α−1 ∂ ∂τc(x,τ )
m dτ , for m − 1 < α < m,
D∗t c(x, t) =
α
α
= m
(2.2)
∂t ∂ c(x,t)
m , for α = m ∈ I
N,
∂t

and the space-fractional derivative operator of order β > 0 is defined as

 x m
∂ β
c(x, t)
1
(m−β) 0
(x − θ )m−β−1 ∂ ∂θc(θ,t)
m dθ , for m − 1 < β < m,
β
D∗x c(x, t) = = m
(2.3)
∂x β ∂ c(x,t)
m , for β = m ∈ IN.
∂x

For more information on the mathematical properties of fractional derivatives and integrals
one can consult the mentioned references.

III. DECOMPOSITION METHOD

The standard form of the fractional advection-dispersion Eq. (1.1) in an operator form

D∗tα c(x, t) = −υD∗x

β
c(x, t) + κD∗x
2β
c(x, t), x > 0, t > 0, (3.1)

where m − 1 < α ≤ m, the time- and space-fractional differential operators are defined before in
(2.2) and (2.3), respectively, denoted by:
∂α ∂β
D∗tα = , β
D∗x = .
∂t α ∂x β
The method is based on applying the operator J α , the inverse of the operator D∗tα , on both sides
of Eq. (3.1) to obtain


m−1 k
∂ c tk  
c(x, t) = k
(x, 0+ ) + J α − υD∗x
β
c(x, t) + κD∗x
2β
c(x, t) . (3.2)
k=0
∂t k!

The Adomian decomposition method [9, 10] assumes a series solution for c(x, t) given by

∞
c(x, t) = cn (x, t), (3.3)
n=0

where the components cn (x, t) will be determined recursively. Substituting (3.3) into both sides
of (3.2) gives
 ∞  ∞ 
∞ 
m−1 k
∂ c k  
+ t
cn (x, t) = (x, 0 ) + J −υD∗x
α β
cn (x, t) + κD∗x2β
cn (x, t) . (3.4)
n=0 k=0
∂t k k! n=0 n=0

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1420 MOMANI AND ODIBAT

Following the decomposition method, we introduce the recursive relations as


m−1 k
∂ c tk
c0 (x, t) = k
(x, 0+ ) , (3.5)
k=0
∂t k!
 
cn+1 (x, t) = J α − υD∗x
β
cn (x, t) + κD∗x
2β
cn (x, t) , n ≥ 0. (3.6)

It is worth noting that if the zeroth component c0 is defined then the remaining components cn ,
n ≥ 1, can be completely determined such that each terms are determined by using the previous
terms, and the series solutions are thus entirely determined. Finally, we approximate the solution
c(x, t) by the truncated series


N −1
φN (x, t) = cn (x, t) and lim φN (x, t) = c(x, t). (3.7)
N →∞
n=0

However, the inclusion of boundary conditions in fractional differential equations introduces

additional difficulties. The Adomian decomposition method can handle these difficulties by using
the time-fractional operator D∗tα or the space-fractional operator D∗x
2β
and the initial conditions
only. The method provides the solution in the form of a rapidly convergent series that may lead
to the exact solution in the case of integer derivatives (α = β = 1) and to an efficient numerical
solution with high accuracy for 0 < α, β < 1. The convergence of the decomposition series has
been investigated in [35, 36].

IV. VARIATIONAL ITERATION METHOD

The principles of the variational iteration method and its applicability for various kinds of differen-
tial equations are given in [11–16, 23–29]. To solve the fractional advection-dispersion equations
by means of variational iteration method, we rewrite Eq. (1.1) in the form

(c(x, t))αt + υ(c(x, t))βx − κ(c(x, t))2βx = 0, t > 0, x > 0, (4.1)

where m − 1 < α ≤ m. The correction functional for Eq. (4.1) can be approximately expressed
as follows:

t m

∂
cn+1 (x, t) = cn (x, t) + λ(ξ ) cn (x, ξ ) + υ( c̃(x, ξ )) βx − κ( c̃(x, ξ ))2βx dξ , (4.2)
0 ∂ξ m

where λ is a general Lagrange multiplier [37], which can be identified optimally via variational
theory [37–40], here (c̃(x, ξ ))βx and (c̃(x, ξ ))2βx are considered as restricted variations. Making
the above functional stationary,

t m

∂
δcn+1 (x, t) = δcn (x, t) + δ λ(ξ ) cn (x, ξ ) dξ , (4.3)
0 ∂ξ m

yields the following Lagrange multipliers

λ = −1, for m = 1
λ = ξ − t, for m = 2.

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 NUMERICAL SOLUTIONS OF ADVECTION-DISPERSION EQUATION 1421

Therefore, for m = 1, we obtain the following iteration formula:

t
cn+1 (x, t) = cn (x, t) − ((cn (x, ξ ))αt + υ(cn (x, ξ ))βx − κ(cn (x, ξ ))2βx )dξ . (4.4)
0

In this case, we begin with the initial approximation

c0 (x, t) = c(x, 0). (4.5)

For m = 2, we obtain the following iteration formula:

t
cn+1 (x, t) = cn (x, t) + (ξ − t)((cn (x, ξ ))αt + υ(cn (x, ξ ))βx − κ(cn (x, ξ ))2βx )dξ . (4.6)
0

In this case, we begin with the initial approximation

u0 (x, t) = c(x, 0) + t · ct (x, 0). (4.7)

V. APPLICATIONS AND RESULTS

To demonstrate the effectiveness of the two techniques for solving space-time fractional advection-
dispersion equations, we consider the following three examples. All the results are calculated by
using the symbolic calculus software Mathematica.

Example 5.1. Consider the following time-fractional advection-dispersion equation

∂ α c(x, t) ∂c(x, t) ∂ 2 c(x, t)

α
= −υ +κ , t > 0, 0 < α ≤ 1, (5.1)
∂t ∂x ∂x 2
subject to the initial condition
u(x, 0) = sin(x). (5.2)

Following the discussion presented earlier, we obtain the recurrence relation

c0 (x, t) = c(x, 0) = sin(x),

(5.3)
cn+1 (x, t) = J α [−υcnx + κcnxx ], n ≥ 0.

In view of (5.3), the first few terms of the decomposition series are derived as follows:

c0 (x, t) = c(x, 0) = sin(x),

tα
c1 (x, t) = J α [−υc0x + κc0xx ] = −(υ cos(x) + κ sin(x)) ,
(α + 1)
t 2α
c2 (x, t) = J α [−υc1x + κc1xx ] = (2κυ cos(x) + (κ 2 − υ 2 ) sin(x)) ,
(2α + 1)
t 3α
c3 (x, t) = J α [−υc2x + κc2xx ] = ((−3κ 2 υ + υ 3 ) cos(x) − κ(κ 2 − 3υ 2 ) sin(x)) ,
(3α + 1)
..
.

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1422 MOMANI AND ODIBAT

The component c4 was also determined and will be used, but for brevity not listed. In this matter
five components of the decomposition series (3.3) were obtained of which c(x, t) was evaluated
to have the following expansion:

tα t 2α
c(x, t) = sin(x) − (υ cos(x) + κ sin(x)) + (2κυ cos(x) + (κ 2 − υ 2 ) sin(x))
(α + 1) (2α + 1)
t 3α
+ ((−3κ 2 υ + υ 3 ) cos(x) − κ(κ 2 − 3υ 2 ) sin(x)) + ...
(3α + 1)
(5.4)

Setting υ = 0 and κ = 1 in (5.4), we reproduce the solution of [18] using the decomposition
method.
According to the formula (4.4), the iteration formula for Eq. (5.1) is given by

t
cn+1 (x, t) = cn (x, t) − ((cn (x, ξ ))αt + v(cn (x, ξ ))x − k(cn (x, ξ ))xx )dξ . (5.5)
0

By the above variational iteration formula, begin with c0 (x, t) = sin(x), we can obtain the
following approximations

c0 (x, t) = c(x, 0) = sin(x),

c1 (x, t) = sin(x) − (υ cos(x) + κ sin(x))t,
t2
c2 (x, t) = sin(x) − 2(υ cos(x) + κ sin(x))t + ((κ 2 − υ 2 ) sin(x) + 2κυ cos(x))
2
t 2−α
+ (υ cos(x) + κ sin(x)) ,
(3 − α)
t2
c3 (x, t) = sin(x) − 3(υ cos(x) + κ sin(x))t + 3((κ 2 − υ 2 ) sin(x) + 2κυ cos(x))
2
t3 t 2−α
+ ((3κυ 2 − κ 3 ) sin(x) + (υ 3 − 3υκ 2 ) cos(x)) + 3(υ cos(x) + κ sin(x))
6 (3 − α)
t 3−α t 3−2α
− 2((κ 2 − υ 2 ) sin(x) + 2κυ cos(x)) − (υ cos(x) + κ sin(x)) ,
(4 − α) (4 − 2α)
..
.

Figures 1–3 show the evolution results for the approximate solutions of Eq. (5.1) obtained for
different values of α using the Adomian decomposition method (ADM) and variational iteration
method (VIM). It is to be noted that only the fourth-order term of the variational iteration solution
and only five terms of the decomposition series were used in evaluating the approximate solutions
in Figs. 1–3. It is evident that the efficiency of these approaches can be dramatically enhanced by
computing further terms or further components of c(x, t) when the variational iteration method
or the decomposition method are used. From the evolution results in Figs. 1–3, it is easy to con-
clude that the solution continuously depends on the time-fractional derivative and the approximate
solutions of Eq. (5.1) obtained by the two methods are in good agreement.

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 NUMERICAL SOLUTIONS OF ADVECTION-DISPERSION EQUATION 1423

FIG. 1. The surface shows the approximate solution c(x, t) for Eq. (5.1): (a) ADM solution; (b) VIM
solution. The parameters have the following values α = 1 and υ = κ = 1. [Color figure can be viewed in
the online issue, which is available at www.interscience.wiley.com.]

FIG. 2. The surface shows the approximate solution c(x, t) for Eq. (5.1): (a) ADM solution; (b) VIM
solution. The parameters have the following values α = 43 and υ = κ = 1. [Color figure can be viewed in
the online issue, which is available at www.interscience.wiley.com.]

FIG. 3. The surface shows the approximate solution c(x, t) for Eq. (5.1): (a) ADM solution; (b) VIM
solution. The parameters have the following values α = 21 and υ = κ = 1. [Color figure can be viewed in
the online issue, which is available at www.interscience.wiley.com.]

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1424 MOMANI AND ODIBAT

Example 5.2. In this example we consider the following nonhomogeneous space-fractional

equation
∂ 2β c ∂c ∂c
− = + (2 − 2t − 2x), t > 0, x > 0, 0 < β ≤ 1, (5.6)
∂x 2β ∂x ∂t
subject to the boundary and initial conditions

c(0, t) = t 2 ,
cx (0, t) = 0, (5.7)
c(x, 0) = x 2 .

Following [9, 10], we write (5.6) in an operator form

2β
D∗x c(x, t) = cx (x, t) + ct (x, t) + (2 − 2t − 2x), (5.8)
2β
2β
where the space fractional differential operator D∗x = ∂x∂ 2β is defined as in (2.3).
2β 2β
Operating with J , the inverse of the operator D∗x , on both sides of Eq. (5.8) and using the
initial conditions (5.7) yields

c(x, t) = c(0, t) + xcx (0, t) + J 2β (2 − 2t − 2x) + J 2β [cx (x, t) + ct (x, t)]. (5.9)

The Adomain decomposition method [9, 10] assumes a series solution for c(x, t) given by


∞
c(x, t) = cn (x, t).
n=0

Following Adomian method analysis, Eq. (5.9) is transformed into a set of recursive relations
given by

c0 (x, t) = c(0, t) + xcx (0, t) + J 2β (2 − 2t − 2x),

cn+1 (x, t) = J 2β [cnx + cnt ], n ≥ 0. (5.10)

Using the above recursive relationship and Mathematica, the first two terms of the decomposition
series are given by

2 − 2t 2
c0 (x, t) = t 2 + x 2β − x 2β+1 ,
(2β + 1) (2β + 2)
2t 2 (2 − 2t)2β(2β) 4β−1
c1 (x, t) = J 2β [c0x + c0t ] = x 2β − x 4β + x
(2β + 1) (4β + 1) (2β + 1)(4β)
2(2β + 1)(2β + 1) 4β
− x
(2β + 2)(4β + 1)
..
.

and so on, in this manner the rest of components of the decomposition series can be obtained.

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 NUMERICAL SOLUTIONS OF ADVECTION-DISPERSION EQUATION 1425

The solution in series form is given by

2 − 2t 2 2t 2
c(x, t) = t 2 + x 2β − x 2β+1 + x 2β − x 4β
(2β + 1) (2β + 2) (2β + 1) (4β + 1)
(2 − 2t)2β(2β) 4β−1 2(2β + 1)(2β + 1) 4β
+ x − x + . . . (5.11)
(2β + 1)(4β) (2β + 2)(4β + 1)
According to the formula (4.6), the iteration formula for Eq. (5.6) is given by

x
cn+1 (x, t) = cn (x, t)+ (ξ −x)((cn (ξ , t))2βx −(cn (ξ , t))x −(cn (ξ , t))t −2+2t +2ξ )dξ . (5.12)
0

By the above variational iteration formula, begin with c0 (x, t) = t 2 , we can obtain the following
approximations

c0 (x, t) = c(0, t) + x · cx (0, t) = t 2 ,

1
c1 (x, t) = t 2 + x 2 − x 3 ,
3
1 1 2 2
c2 (x, t) = t 2 + 2x 2 − x 3 − x 4 − x 4−2β + x 5−2β ,
3 12 (5 − 2β) (6 − 2β)
..
.

It is obvious that the self-canceling “noise” terms appear between various components of the
two approximate solutions. Setting β = 1 and canceling the noise terms in the decomposition
solution (5.11) and the variational iteration solution yield the exact solution, for this special case,
given by
u(x, t) = x 2 + t 2 . (5.13)

Example 5.3. We next consider the space-time fractional advection-dispersion equation

∂ 2β c ∂βc ∂αc
− = , t > 0, x > 0, 0 < α ≤ 1, 0.5 < β ≤ 1, (5.14)
∂x 2β ∂x β ∂t α
subject to the boundary and initial conditions

c(0, t) = f1 (t),
cx (0, t) = f2 (t), (5.15)
c(x, 0) = g(x).

Following [9, 10], we write (5.14) in an operator form

2β
D∗x c(x, t) = D∗x
β
c(x, t) + D∗tα c(x, t). (5.16)

Operating with J 2β on both sides of Eq. (5.16) and using the initial conditions (5.15) yields
 β 
c(x, t) = c(0, t) + xcx (0, t) + J 2β D∗x c(x, t) + D∗tα c(x, t) . (5.17)

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1426 MOMANI AND ODIBAT

The Adomain decomposition method [9, 10] assumes a series solution for c(x, t) given by

∞
c(x, t) = cn (x, t).
n=0

Following Adomian method analysis, Eq. (5.17) is transformed into a set of recursive relations
given by
c0 (x, t) = c(0, t) + xcx (0, t) = f1 (t) + xf2 (t)
 β  (5.18)
cn+1 (x, t) = J 2β D∗x cn + D∗tα cn , n ≥ 0.
Using the above recursive relationship and Mathematica, the first three terms of the decomposition
series are given by

c0 (x, t) = f1 (t) + xf2 (t),

 β  f1 (t) f2 (t) D∗tα f1 (t) 2β
c1 (x, t) = J 2β D∗x c0 + D∗tα c0 = xβ + x β+1 + x
(β + 1) (β + 2) (2β + 1)
D∗tα f2 (t) 2β+1
+ x ,
(2β + 2)
..
.

and so on, in this manner the rest of components of the decomposition series can be obtained.
The solution in series form is given by
f1 (t) f2 (t)
c(x, t) = f1 (t) + xf2 (t) + xβ + x β+1
(β + 1) (β + 2)
D∗tα f1 (t) 2β D∗tα f2 (t) 2β+1
+ x + x + ... (5.19)
(2β + +1) (2β + 2)
According to the formula (4.6), the iteration formula for Eq. (5.14) is given by

x
cn+1 (x, t) = cn (x, t) + (ξ − x)((cn (ξ , t))2βx − (cn (ξ , t))βx − (cn (ξ , t))αt )dξ . (5.20)
0

By the above variational iteration formula, begin with c0 (x, t) = f1 (t) + xf2 (t), we can obtain
the following approximations

c0 (x, t) = c(0, t) + x · cx (0, t) = f1 (t) + xf2 (t),

x2 α x3 x 3−β
c1 (x, t) = f1 (t) + xf2 (t) + D∗t f1 (t) + D∗tα f2 (t) + f2 (t),
2 3 (4 − β)
..
.

Setting β = 1 in the decomposition solution (5.19) and the variational iteration solution yield
the same aprroximate solution, for this special case, given by

x2 α x3 x2
c(x, t) = f1 (t) + xf2 (t) + D∗t f1 (t) + D∗tα f2 (t) + xf1 (t) + f2 (t) + . . . (5.21)
2 3 2

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 NUMERICAL SOLUTIONS OF ADVECTION-DISPERSION EQUATION 1427

Clear conclusion can be drawn from the analytical results in Examples 1–3 that the Adomian
decomposition method and variational iteration method provide highly accurate numerical solu-
tions without spatial discretization for the problem. It is evident that the efficiency of these
approaches can be dramatically enhanced by computing further terms or further components of
c(x, t) when the variational iteration method or the decomposition method are used.

VI. CONCLUSIONS

In this article, the application of Adomian decomposition method and variational iteration method
were extended to obtain explicit and numerical solutions of the space-time fractional advection-
dispersion equation. The two methods were clearly very efficient and powerful techniques in
finding the solutions of the proposed equations. The Adomian decomposition method and varia-
tional iteration method require less computational work than existing approaches while supplying
quantitatively reliable results. The obtained results demonstrate the reliability of the algorithms
and their wider applicability to fractional evolution equations.
Finally, the recent appearance of fractional advection-dispersion equations to model particles
that experiance very large transitions [6] makes it necessary to investigate the method of solutions
for such equations and we hope that this work is a step in this direction.

The authors would like to thank the referees for their comments and discussions.

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