A hybrid collocation method for the approximation of 2D time fractional diffusion-wave equation

The multi-term time-fractional order diffusion-wave equation (MT-TFDWE) is an important mathematical model for processes exhibiting anomalous diffusion and wave propagation with memory effects. This article develops a robust numerical technique based on the Chebyshev collocation method (CCM) coupled with the Laplace transform (LT) to solve the time-fractional diffusion-wave equation. The CCM is utilized to discretize the spatial domain, which ensures remarkable accuracy and excellent efficiency in capturing the variations of spatial solutions. The LT is used to handle the time-fractional derivative, which converts the problem into an algebraic equation in a simple form. However, while using the LT, the main difficulty arises in calculating its inverse. In many situations, the analytical inversion of LT becomes a cumbersome job. Therefore, the numerical techniques are then used to obtain the time domain solution from the frequency domain solution. Various numerical inverse Laplace transform methods (NILTMs) have been developed by the researchers. In this work, we use the contour integration method (CIM), which is capable of handling complex inversion tasks efficiently. This hybrid technique provides a powerful tool for the numerical solution of the time-fractional diffusion-wave equation. The accuracy and efficiency of the proposed technique are validated through four test problems.