Alexandria Engineering Journal (2021) 60, 2687–2696

H O S T E D BY
Alexandria University

Alexandria Engineering Journal

www.elsevier.com/locate/aej
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Abundant wave solutions of conformable space-time

fractional order Fokas wave model arising in
physical sciencesq
Shahzad Sarwar a,*, Khaled M. Furati a, Muhammad Arshad b

a
King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Department of Mathematics & Statistics, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia
b
Faculty of Science, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu 212013, China

Received 19 November 2020; revised 23 December 2020; accepted 2 January 2021

KEYWORDS
Soliton solutions;
Wave solutions;
F-expansion method;
Fractional fokas equation;
expð/ðnÞÞ-expansion
method;
Conformable derivative
Abstract The higher dimensional Fokas equation is the integrable expansion of the Kadomtsev-
Petviashvili (KP) and Davey-Stewartson (DS) equations. The Fokas model has an important role
in wave theory, to describe the physical phenomena of waves on the surface and inside the water.
This article deals with the ð4 þ 1Þ-dimensional conformable space-time fractional-order Fokas par-
tial differential equation. Two efficient methods, namely the generalized expð/ðnÞÞ-expansion and
improved F-expansion methods, are formulated for conformable fractional-order partial differen-
tial equation and new wave structures of fractional order Fokas model are constructed. The differ-
ent kinds of new solitons are achieved such as bright soliton, dark soliton, Kink and anti-kink
solitons, periodic solitary waves, and traveling waves. These new soliton waves are constructed
at some values of fractional order a and using different parametric values of the methods by using
the software package Mathematica. Newly obtained soliton solutions are compared with the avail-
able soliton solutions with different fractional derivatives in the literature. Some of the achieved
results are explained 2D and 3D graphically. The new results interpreting that these obtained solu-
tions can be a part, to complete the family of solutions and considered methods are effective, simple,
and easy to use. Furthermore, this paper gives an idea, how can reduce the conformable fractional
order higher dimensional partial differential equation into an ODE of one variable to obtain the
exact solutions. These results and methods can be help to investigate the other higher-
dimensional conformable fractional-order models which appear in nonlinear wave theory such as
optics, quantum gases, hydrodynamics, photonics, plasmas, and solid-state physics.
Ó 2020 THE AUTHORS. Published by Elsevier BV on behalf of Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria
University. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: shahzadppn@gmail.com (S. Sarwar), kmfurati@kfupm.edu.sa (K.M. Furati).
q
The authors would like to acknowledge the support provided by the Deanship of Scientific Research (DSR) at King Fahd University of
Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM) for funding this work through project No. SR191026.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aej.2021.01.001
1110-0168 Ó 2020 THE AUTHORS. Published by Elsevier BV on behalf of Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
2688
1. Introduction
The history of fractional calculus is as old as the classical cal-
culus and goes back to times when Newton and Leibnitz
invented differential calculus [1–3]. It is noticed that fractional
differential equations explain the physical phenomena in more
efficient way and these fractional order models describe the
dynamical systems better than integer-order. Nonlinear
fractional-order differential equations arise in water wave the-
ory, mathematical physics, diffusion process, fluid flow in a
porous medium, etc [4–10]. Fractional derivative operators
are non-locals and their properties are complicated, so to find
the solutions of fractional problems especially higher dimen-
sional fractional-order problems with new derivatives, is not
easy. As our best knowledge, there is no standard method to
solve the higher dimensional fractional nonlinear problems.
Several new numerical [11–14] and analytical methods [15–
21] are proposed for fractional order problems by getting the
ideas from integer order calculus, but, it’s still challenge for
the researchers. Several researchers are studying the fractional
order problems in different way [43–47].
In 2006, Fokas [22] extended the Lax pairs of integrable
nonlinear KP and DS equation, and derived the integer order
(4 + 1)-dimensional wave equation. In wave theory, KP and
DS equations are recommended to characterize the internal
and surface waves in straits with changing width and depth
[23], and the development of finite depth of 3d wave on water,
respectively [24]. The (4 + 1)-dimensional Fokas equation has
large number of applications in quantum field theory, solid-
state physics, to investigate the interaction of solitons, non-
linear optics, condensed matter physics, and many others
[25]. In this article, we study the space–time conformable frac-
tional order (4 + 1)-dimensional Fokas equation,



@ 2a u @ 3a @u @a @3u @ a u @u
4 a a  3a þ a þ 12 a
@t @x @x @y @x @y 3 @x @y


@ a @u @2u
þ 12u a 6 ¼ 0; ð1Þ
@x @y @z@w
where u is unknown analytical function. In physical situation u
is the horizontal velocity of wave and 0 < a < 1. When a ¼ 1
the Eq. (1) reduces to integer order (4 + 1)-dimensional Fokas
equation. We expect this generalized model Eq. (1) to explain
the motion of waves in complex media. It could capture the
dispersion or distortion of the surface wave. Therefore, differ-
ent kinds of solution of fractional Fokas equation will give us
ideas to explain the complex phenomena of KD and DS equa-
tions. Moreover, in the light of above-mentioned facts about
fractional derivative and the important applications of the
Fokas equation, it is necessary to explore the new soliton solu-
tions of Eq. (1).
In last few years, mathematicians and physicists have a
deep interest to investigate the Eq. (1) and their main concerns
are: (i) to find an efficient and simple method, and ii) to attain
all kinds of solutions of higher dimensional conformable frac-
tional problems. Zhang et al. utilized the sub-equation method
to find the solution of Eq. (1) with Jumarie’s modified Rie-
mann–Liouville derivative in the form of trigonometric func-
tion, rational function, and hyperbolic function [26]. Zhang
et al. [27] employed the so-called new sub-equation method,
which is a fractional form of ðG0=GÞ-expansion method. Choi
et al. [28] utilized the sub-equation method with system tech-
S. Sarwar et al.
nique and obtained the different exact solution of Eq. (1).
Zhang [29] found the exact and travelling wave solution of
Eq. (1) by Exp-function method. Zhao et al. [30] proposed
the extended fractional ðG0=GÞ-expansion method which is
based on fractional sub-equation method, and obtain the exact
solutions such as negative exponential, trigonometric and
hyperbolic solutions. In [31], the authors proposed an other
method with the combination of general Riccati equation
and fractional complex transformation, and obtained the exact
solutions, which are more generalized than [26].
The main motivation of this present work is to use the new
definition of fractional derivative, so-called conformable
derivative, for space–time fractional order ð4 þ 1Þ-
dimensional Fokas equation. To the best interest of our read-
ers, as far as we know that the conformable fractional deriva-
tive hase not been used for considered methods and model in
the literature. The conformal fractional derivative has been
extensively used in the literature to find the wave solutions
for different kinds of fractional order nonlinear PDEs [32–
34]. As we know that there are many kinds of travelling wave
and soliton solutions [35–42]. Some kind of solutions such as
elliptic function, Weierstrass elliptic function, combined
dark-bright soliton solutions, bright and dark soliton, general-
ized solitary waves and periodic solutions especially solutions
in general form and many others of Fokas equation are miss-
ing in the literature. To fill this gap, in this article we aim to
find exact solutions and scrutinize many other solutions which
are not available in the literature. Therefore, our proposed
methods are capable to find such solutions.
This article is arranged as: Section 1 provides an introduc-
tion., definition and properties of Conformable fractional
derivative are given in Section 2. Section 3 is devoted to pre-
sent proposed methods. Implementation of the given methods
is in Section 4. Results and discussion are given in Section 5,
and in last section conclusion is given.
2. Conformable fractional derivative
New development in fractional calculus opens the new window
for researchers to explain the physical phenomena in new way.
For this purpose, recently, Caputo and Fabrizio [49] revised
the Caputo derivative [48] in a non-singular kernel form. In
2016, Atangana and Baleanu introduced a new fractional
order derivative, is called Atangana-Baleanu (AB) derivative
[50]. In 2014, Khalil et al. [51] suggested the following simple
and captivating definition of fractional derivative as natural
extension of classical derivative, it is called conformable frac-
tional derivative. The conformable derivative has various sig-
nificant characteristic of a classical derivative. This is the
main advantage of this definition. The Riemann–Liouville,
Caputo and other derivatives do not obey the basic rules,
which are given by Newtonian type classical derivative. For
example
(i) For Riemann–Liouville derivative, Dat C – 0, C is any
constant.
(ii) For Riemann–Liouville and Caputo derivative,
Dat ðf ðtÞgðtÞÞ – f ðtÞDat gðtÞ þ gðtÞDat f ðtÞ.
(iii) For Riemann–Liouville and Caputo derivative,
Dat f ðtÞ gðtÞDat f ðtÞf ðtÞDat gðtÞ
gðtÞ
– gðtÞ2
.
Abundant wave solutions of conformable space-time fractional order Fokas wave model 2689

and Eq. (3.3) satisfies this new ansatz equation

Definition 2.1. [51] The conformable fractional derivative of a F0ðnÞ ¼ h0 þ h1 FðnÞ þ h2 F2 ðnÞ þ h3 F3 ðnÞ; ð3:5Þ
function h ¼ hðtÞ : ½0; 1Þ ! R of order g > 0is defined as
where h0 ; h1 ; h2 ,h3 are arbitrary constants.
hðdt1g þ tÞ  hðtÞ Step 2: We obtain A0 ; A1 ;    ; A2N ; a; b1 ; b2 ; b3 ; b4 ; m; h0 ;
Dgt hðtÞ ¼ lim ; 0 < g 6 1: ð2:1Þ h1 ; h2 ; h3 ; Nð> 0Þ from Eq. (3.4) after using the homogeneous
d!0 d
balance principle method.
At g ¼ 1, the conformable fractional derivative reduced to clas-
Step 3: We obtain system of algebraic equations by substi-
sical (integer order) derivative.
tute Eq. (3.4) and Eq. (3.5) into Eq. (3.3) and all coefficients
of Fi ðnÞFðjÞ ðnÞ ¼ 0.
Theorem 2.1. For g 2 ð0; 1, and h; h1 are conformable func-
Step 4: We solve the algebraic system of equations, and
tions then we have the following properties.
obtain the values of unknown parameters by using package
Mathematica.
 Dgt hðtÞ ¼ t1g dhðtÞ
dt
. Step 5: The soliton solution of Eq. (3.3) are obtained after
 Dgt tm ¼ mtng ; 8m 2 R. putting the parametric values which attaining in Step 4.
 Dgt c ¼ 0; 8constant functions hðtÞ ¼ c.
 Dgt ðp1  hðtÞ þ p2  h1 ðtÞÞ 3.2. Generalized expð/ðnÞÞ-expansion Method
¼ p1  Dgt hðtÞ þ p2  Dgt h1 ðtÞ; 8p1 ; p2 2 R.
 Dgt ðhðtÞh1 ðtÞÞ ¼ hðtÞDgt h1 ðtÞ þ h1 ðtÞDgt hðtÞ. The formulation of this method for conformable space–time
Dgt hðtÞ h ðtÞDg hðtÞhðtÞDg h ðtÞ
 h1 ðtÞ
¼ 1 t h ðtÞ2 t 1 . fractional order Fokas model is:
1

 Dgt ðh  h1 ÞðtÞ ¼ t1g h01 ðtÞh0 ðh1 ðtÞÞ. Step 1: The solution of ODE (3.3) can be considered as
X
N
wðnÞ ¼ Bi ðexpð/ðnÞÞÞi ; ð3:6Þ
i¼0
3. The description of proposed methods
where Bi – 0 are unknown real constants, and
Now, we present the suggested methods to obtained the family /0 ðnÞ ¼ p1 eð/ðnÞÞ þ p2 eð/ðnÞÞ þ p3 ; ð3:7Þ
of solutions of space–time conformable fractional order Fokas
equation. where p1 ; p2 and p3 are real constants and Eq. (3.7) satisfies the
Firstly, we consider the general form of space–time frac- / ¼ /ðnÞ.
tional order partial differential equation as. Step 2: We calculate N from Eq. (3.3) by using homoge-

a  neous balance principle method.
@ u @ a u @ a u @ a u @ a u @ 2a u @ 2a u @ 2 u @ 2 u @ 2 u Step 3: We put Eq. (3.6) and Eq. (3.7) into Eq. (3.3), and get
F u; a ; a ; a ; a ; a ; 2a ; 2a ; 2 ; 2 ; 2 ;  ¼ 0;  j
@t @x @y @z @w @t @x @y @z @w a polynomial in e/ðnÞ . Equate coefficients of e/ðnÞ ¼ 0 , and
0 < a 6 1; ð3:1Þ obtain system of algebraic equations.
where u is an unknown function of time t and 4 spatial dimen- Step 4: We obtain solution of Eq. (3.3), after using the val-
sions x; y; z; w. ues of parameters gain in Step 3 into Eq. (3.6).
We suppose the following travelling-wave transformation,
which transforms the independent variables into one variable 4. Applications
as
xa ya za wa ta In this section, we find the new wave solutions of space–time
uðx; y; z; w; tÞ ¼ UðnÞ; n ¼ b1 þ b2 þ b3 þ b4  m ; fractional order Fokas dynamical model. The (1) with Eq.
a a a a a
(3.2) becomes
ð3:2Þ  
b1 b2 b21  b22 U00 þ ð4b1 m þ 6b3 b4 ÞU  6b1 b2 U2 ¼ 0: ð4:1Þ
where m is frequency and b1 ; b2 ; b3 ; b4 are lengths of wave
respectively. Using Eq. (3.2), the Eq. (3.1) is transform into
an ODE as 4.1. Application of improved F-expansion method
PðU; U0 ; U00 ; U000 ;   Þ ¼ 0; ð3:3Þ
After using homogeneous balance principle method on Eq.
where U0 is the first derivative, U00 is second derivative, U000 is (4.1) we get
the third derivative of U with respect to n and so on.
UðnÞ ¼ A0 þ A1 FðnÞ þ A2 ðFðnÞÞ2 þ A3 ðFðnÞÞ3 þ A4 ðFðnÞÞ4 :
3.1. Improved F-expansion Method ð4:2Þ
Substitute Eq. (4.2) and Eq. (3.5) into Eq. (4.1), set all the coef-
In this subsection, we present the formulation of Improved F-
expansion method for conformable space–time fractional order ficients of Fi ðnÞFðjÞ ðnÞ equal to zero, we obtain a system of
Fokas model. The steps of this method are as follows: equations in the parameters A0 ; A1 ; A2 ; A3 ; A4 ; b1 ; b2 ; b3 ;
Step 1: The solution of Eq. (3.3) can be consider as b4 ; m; h0 ; h1 ; h2 and h3 . We attain the following different set of
solutions.
X
2N
Family 1: h0 ¼ h3 ¼ 0,
UðnÞ ¼ Ai ðFðnÞÞi ; ð3:4Þ
i¼0
2690 S. Sarwar et al.
 

A0 ¼ 0; A1 ¼ h1 h2 b21  b22 ; A2 ¼ b21 h22  b22 h22 ; A3 ¼ A4 ¼ 0; h1 eh1 ðnþn0 Þ
ð4:3Þ u14 ðx; y; z; w; tÞ ¼ A1 1  ; h1 < 0: ð4:8Þ
6b b þb b3 ðh2 Þþb3 b h2 h2 eh1 ðnþn0 Þ þ 1
m ¼ 3 4 2 14b1 1 2 1 1 :
Family 2: h1 ¼ h3 ¼ 0,
 
  b ðb2 b2 Þ h2 h2 3A2
2

A1 ¼ 0; A2 ¼ h22 b21  b22 ; A3 ¼ A4 ¼ 0; m ¼  2 1 22A0 0 2 0 ;

A1 b21 ð4:9Þ
b1 b2 ðb21 b22 Þh22 ðA0 þðb22 b21 Þh0 h2 Þð3A0 þðb22 b21 Þh0 h2 Þ
A0 ¼ A1 ; A2 ¼ 0; A3 ¼ 0; A4 ¼ 0; b2 ¼ b1 ; b4 ¼ ; b4 ¼ 3A0 b3 ðA0 þðb21 b22 Þh22 Þ
:
b3
3A1 b1
m¼ : ð4:4Þ
2
From solution set (4.3), new soliton solutions of Eq. (1) are A1 b22 3A1 b2
A0 ¼  A1 ; A2 ¼ A3 ¼ A4 ¼ 0; b1 ¼ b2 ; b4 ¼  ;m ¼ : ð4:10Þ
b3 2
 
b21  b22 h21 h2 eh1 ðnþn0 Þ From solution set (4.9), the new solitary waves of Eq. (1) can
u11 ðx; y; z; w; tÞ ¼ ; h1 > 0: ð4:5Þ
ðh2 eh1 ðnþn0 Þ  1Þ
2 be constructed as
  pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 
u21 ðx; y; z; w; tÞ ¼ A0 þ b21  b22 h0 h2 tan2 h0 h2 ðn þ n0 Þ ; h0 h2 > 0:
 2 
b1  b22 h21 h2 eh1 ðnþn0 Þ ð4:11Þ
u12 ðx; y; z; w; tÞ ¼  2
; h1 < 0: ð4:6Þ
ðh2 eh1 ðnn0 Þ þ 1Þ   pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 
u22 ðx; y; z; w; tÞ ¼ A0 þ b22  b21 h0 h2 tanh2 h0 h2 ðn þ n0 Þ ; d0 d2 < 0:
From solution (4.4), more wave solutions can be constructed
for Eq. (1) as ð4:12Þ

 From Eq. (4.10), new solitary waves can be constructed as
h1 eh1 ðnþn0 Þ
u13 ðx; y; z; w; tÞ ¼ A1  1 ; h1 > 0: ð4:7Þ
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi  
1  h2 eh1 ðnþn0 Þ h0 tan h0 h2 ðn þ n0 Þ
u23 ðx; y; z; w; tÞ ¼ A1 pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 1 ; h0 h2 > 0: ð4:13Þ
h0 h2

Fig. 1 Solitons of Family 1 solution (4.5): (a) 3d dark soliton at a ¼ 1, (b) 3d dark soliton at a ¼ 0:5, (c) 2d dark solitary wave at a ¼ 1,
(d) 2d dark solitory wave at a ¼ 0:5.
Abundant wave solutions of conformable space-time fractional order Fokas wave model 2691

pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi  
h0 tanh h0 h2 ðh þ nÞ Family 4: h0 ¼ h2 ¼ 0,
u24 ðx; y; z; w; tÞ ¼ A1 pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 1 ; d0 d2 < 0: ð4:14Þ
h0 h2    
A0 ¼ A1 ¼ 0; A2 ¼ 4 b21  b22 h1 h3 ; A3 ¼ 0; A4 ¼ 4 b21  b22 h23 ;
Family 3: h3 ¼ 0, 3b3 b4 2b2 b31 h21 þ2b32 b1 h21
ð4:19Þ
m¼ 2b1
:
A1 b22
A0 ¼ A1 ; A2 ¼ A3 ¼ A4 ¼ 0; b1 ¼ b2 ; b4 ¼ ;
b3
3A1 b2 New solitary waves of Eq. (1) from the solution set (4.19) are
m¼ : ð4:15Þ  
2 4 b21  b22 h21 h3 e2h1 ðnþn0 Þ
u41 ðx; y; z; w; tÞ ¼ 2
; h1 > 0:
A0 ¼ A1 ; A2 ¼ A3 ¼ A4 ¼ 0; b1 ¼ b2 ; b4 ðh3 e2h1 ðnþn0 Þ  1Þ
A1 b22 3A1 b2  
¼ ;m ¼  : ð4:16Þ 4 b21  b22 h21 h3 e2h1 ðnþn0 Þ
b3 2 u32 ðx; y; z; w; tÞ ¼  2
; h1 < 0: ð4:21Þ
ðh3 e2h1 ðnþn0 Þ þ 1Þ
The solitary waves for Eq. (4.15) and Eq. (4.16) are as
0 qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi  1
4h0 h2 h21
h1  4h0 h2  h21 tan ðn þ n0 Þ 4.2. Application of Generalized expð/ðnÞÞ-expansion Method
A1 B
B
2 C
u31 ðx; y; z; w; tÞ ¼ þ 2C
A; 4h0 h2 > h1 :
2
2 @ h2
Using principle of homogeneous technique on Eq. (4.1), we get
ð4:17Þ
 2

qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi  UðnÞ ¼ B0 þ B1 eð/ðnÞÞ þ B2 eð/ðnÞÞ : ð4:22Þ
4h0 h2 h21
A1 h1  2h2  4h0 h2  h21 tan 2
ðn þ n0 Þ
u32 ðx; y; z; w; tÞ ¼ ; 4d0 d2 > d21 :
2h2
ð4:18Þ

Fig. 2 Different form of solitons of Family 1 solution (4.6): (a) 3d bright soliton at a ¼ 1, (b) 3d bright soliton at a ¼ 0:5, (c) 2d bright
solitary wave at a ¼ 1, (d) 2d bright solitory wave at a ¼ 0:5.
2692 S. Sarwar et al.
0 0

pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi   1 1
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Substitute Eqs. (4.22) and (3.7) into Eq. (4.1) and equate the  2  B6 r 4q  r2 tan
4qr2
ðn þ n0 Þ þ 2pq  r2
 i b1  b22 BB B 2 C
C
C
C
coefficients of eð/ðnÞÞ ¼ 0 , achieve a system of equations in u2 ðnÞ ¼ B2pqB

pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 2 þ 1C þ r2 C:
6 @ @ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 4qr2 A A
r  4q  r tan 2 ðn þ n0 Þ
A0 ; A1 ; A2 ; p; q; r; b1 ; b2 ; b3 ; b4 and m. We obtain 2

Family 1: ð4:25Þ

ðb2 b2 Þð2pqþr2 Þ     Type III: for p ¼ 1; q ¼ 0; r – 0; r  4q > 0, 2

B0 ¼ 1 2 6 ; B1 ¼ b21  b22 pr; B2 ¼ b21  b22 p2 ;
   ð4:23Þ  2        2 
 b1  b22 2p erðnþn0 Þ  1 q erðnþn0 Þ  1 þ 3r2 þ r2 erðnþn0 Þ  1 þ 6p2 r2
m ¼ 14 b2 b22  b21 ð4pq  r2 Þ  6bb31b4 : u3 ðnÞ ¼ 2
:
6ðerðnþn0 Þ  1Þ
ð4:26Þ

From family 1, the different types of solitons are Type IV: for p ¼ 1; q – 0; r – 0; r2  4q ¼ 0,
 2  !
Type I: for p ¼ 1; q – 0; r2  4q > 0, b1  b22 6p2 r4 ðn  n0 Þ2 3pr3 ðn  n0 Þ
0 0

pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi  1 1 u4 ðnÞ ¼  þ 2pq þ r2
:
 B B
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi r2 4q 6 ð2rðn  n0 Þ þ 2Þ2 rðn  n0 Þ þ 1
6 r r2  4q tanh ðn  n0 Þ  2pq þ r2 C C
b2  b22 B B 2
C 2C
u1 ðnÞ ¼ 1
6
B2pqB1 
@ @


pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi

pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
r 4q
2
 2 C þ r C:
A A ð4:27Þ
r2  4q tanh 2
ðn  n0 Þ þ r
Type V: for r ¼ 0; p > 0; q > 0,
ð4:24Þ
 2 
rffiffiffi 
b1  b22  pffiffiffiffiffi p  pffiffiffiffiffi
Type II: for p ¼ 1; q – 0; r2  4q < 0, u5 ðnÞ ¼ 6pqcot2 ðn þ n0 Þ pq þ 6qr cot ðn þ n0 Þ pq þ 2pq þ r2 :
6 q
ð4:28Þ

Fig. 3 Wave solitons of Family 1: (a) and (b) are anti-Kink waves of (4.7) at a ¼ 1 and a ¼ 0:5, (c) and (d) are Kink waves of (4.8) at
a ¼ 1 and a ¼ 0:5 respectively.
Abundant wave solutions of conformable space-time fractional order Fokas wave model 2693

Type VI: for r ¼ 0; p < 0; q < 0, Similarly, more general soliton can be constructed for family 2.
 
rffiffiffi 
b21  b22  pffiffiffiffiffi p  pffiffiffiffiffi
u6 ðnÞ ¼ 6pqcot ðn  n0 Þ pq  6qr
2
cot ðn  n0 Þ pq þ 2pq þ r2 :
6 q 5. Results and discussions
ð4:29Þ
Type VII: for r ¼ 0; p > 0; q < 0, Different types of soliton waves are obtained by using two dif-
 
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffi  ferent methods, namely, improved F-expansion and general-
b21  b22  pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi p  pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
u7 ðnÞ ¼
6
6pqcoth2 ðn  n0 Þ pq  6qr  coth ðn  n0 Þ pq þ 2pq þ r2 :
q
ized expð/ðnÞÞ-expansion methods.The different kind of
ð4:30Þ wave solitions such as bright and dark soliton, Kink and
anti-Kink solitons, periodic and traveling solitary waves. As
Type VIII: for r ¼ 0; p < 0; q > 0, compared these solutions with existing solutions of Eq. (1) with
 
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 
b21  b22  pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi p  pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi different fractional derivatives, some of solutions are absent in
u8 ðnÞ ¼ r2  6pqcoth2 ðn þ n0 Þ pq þ 6qr  coth ðn þ n0 Þ pq þ 2pq :
6 q literature [26–31].
ð4:31Þ Graphical representations of achieved results are presented in
Figs. 1–5 to understand the behavior of obtained solutions at
Type IX: for q ¼ 0; r ¼ 0,
 2  ! a ¼ 0:5 and a ¼ 1. Fig. 1 shows the 3d dark solitons and 2d dark
b1  b22 6 6r solitory waves of Family 1 solution (4.5). In Fig. 2, 3d bright soli-
u9 ðnÞ ¼ þ þ 2pq þ r :
2
ð4:32Þ tons and 2d bright soliary waves are presented for Family 1 of
6 ðn  n0 Þ2 n  n0
solution (4.6). Periodic solitary waves of Family 2 of solutions
Family 2: (4.11) and (4.13) are given in Fig. 3. Wave solitons of different
      solutions of Family 1 are anti-Kink waves of (4.7) and Kink
B0 ¼ b21  b22 pq; B1 ¼ b21  b22 pr; B2 ¼ b21  b22 p2 ;
  ð4:33Þ waves of (4.8) are showing in Fig. 4. Fig. 5 illustrate the dark soli-
m ¼ 14 b2 b21  b22 ð4pq  r2 Þ  6bb31b4 : tary waves of solution (4.24), traveling waves of solution (4.25)
and bright solitary waves of solution (4.26).

Fig. 4 Solitary waves of Family 2 solutions: (a) and (b) are periodic solitary waves of (4.11) at a ¼ 1 and a ¼ 0:5, (c) and (d) are also
other kinds of periodic solitary waves of (4.13) at a ¼ 1 and a ¼ 0:5 respectively.
2694 S. Sarwar et al.

Fig. 5 Solitary waves in different forms: (a) and (b) are dark solitary waves of solution (4.24) at a ¼ 1 and a ¼ 0:5, (c) and (d) are
traveling waves of solution (4.25) at a ¼ 1 and a ¼ 0:5, and (e) and (f) are bright solitary waves of solution (4.26) at a ¼ 1 and a ¼ 0:5
respectively.

6. Conclusion usage of new fractional derivatives always needs the demon-

stration of analytical and numerical methods in order to solve
The new definitions of derivatives in fractional calculus always such problems in science and engineering. The conformable
open new windows for the researchers and scientists. The derivative is one of the new derivatives which has various sig-
nificant characteristic of a classical derivative In this paper,
Abundant wave solutions of conformable space-time fractional order Fokas wave model
nonlinear (4 + 1)-dimensional conformable space–time frac-
tional order Fokas wave model which arises in wave theory is
considered. Improved F-expansion method and generalized
expð/ðnÞÞ-expansion method are formulated for conformable
fractional Fokas model. The new solutions are derived in dif-
ferent solitons such as bright soliton, dark soliton, Kink and
anti-Kink solitons, periodic solitary waves and traveling waves.
These new wave solutions are more generalized. Some different
forms of solutions are presented graphically to understand the
behaviour of obtained solutions. The obtained solutions show
that the suggested methods are simple, effective, and easy to
use. Furthermore, this paper gives an idea, how can reduce
the conformable fractional order higher dimensional partial
differential equation into an ODE of one variable to obtain
the exact solutions. These obtained solutions are helpful to
study the dynamics of nonlinear waves in diverse physical set-
tings in nonlinear optics, quantum gases, hydrodynamics, pho-
tonics, plasmas, and solid state physics.
Declaration of Competing Interest
None.
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