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Modeling of phenomena such as anomalous transport via fractional-order differential equations has been established as an effective alternative to partial differential equations, due to the inherent ability to describe large-scale behavior with greater efficiency than fully resolved classical models. In this review article, we first provide a broad overview of fractional-order derivatives with a clear emphasis on the stochastic processes that underlie their use. We then survey three exemplary application areas — subsurface transport, turbulence, and anomalous materials — in which fractional-order differential equations provide accurate and predictive models. For each area, we report on the evidence of anomalous behavior that justifies the use of fractional-order models, and survey both foundational models as well as more expressive state-of-the-art models. We also propose avenues for future research, including more advanced and physically sound models, as well as tools for calibration and discovery of fractional-order models.

Fractional models and their parameters are sensitive to intrinsic microstructual changes in anomalous materials. We investigate how such physics-informed models propagate the evolving anomalous rheology to the nonlinear dynamics of mechanical systems. In particular, we study the vibration of a fractional, geometrically nonlinear viscoelastic cantilever beam, under base excitation and free vibration, where the viscoelasticity is described by a distributed-order fractional model. We employ Hamilton's principle to obtain the equation of motion with the choice of specific material distribution functions that recover a fractional Kelvin-Voigt viscoelastic model of order $\alpha$. Through spectral decomposition in space, the resulting time-fractional partial differential equation reduces to a nonlinear time-fractional ordinary differential equation, where the linear counterpart is numerically integrated through a direct L1-difference scheme. We further develop a semi-analytical scheme to solve the nonlinear system through a method of multiple scales, yielding a cubic algebraic equation in terms of the frequency. Our numerical results suggest a set of $\alpha$-dependent anomalous dynamic qualities, such as far-from-equilibrium power-law decay rates, amplitude super-sensitivity at free vibration, and bifurcation in steady-state amplitude at primary resonance.