A Crank–Nicolson Finite Volume Element Method for Time Fractional Sobolev Equations on Triangular Grids

Abstract

In this paper, a finite volume element (FVE) method is proposed for the time fractional Sobolev equations with the Caputo time fractional derivative. Based on the L1-formula and the Crank–Nicolson scheme, a fully discrete Crank–Nicolson FVE scheme is established by using an interpolation operator Ih*. The unconditional stability result and the optimal a priori error estimate in the L2(Ω)-norm for the Crank–Nicolson FVE scheme are obtained by using the direct recursive method. Finally, some numerical results are given to verify the time and space convergence accuracy, and to examine the feasibility and effectiveness for the proposed scheme.