Convergence analysis of the hp-version spectral collocation method for a class of nonlinear variable-order fractional differential equations

In this paper, a general class of nonlinear initial value problems involving a Riemann-Liouville fractional derivative and a variable-order fractional derivative is investigated. An existence result of the exact solution is established by using Weissinger's fixed point theorem and Gronwall-Bellman lemma. An hp-version spectral collocation method is presented to solve the problem in numerical frames. The collocation method employs the Legendre-Gauss interpolations to conquer the influence of the nonlinear term and variable-order fractional derivative. The most remarkable feature of the method is its capability to achieve higher accuracy by refining the mesh and/or increasing the degree of the polynomial. The error estimates under the H 1 -norm for smooth solutions on arbitrary meshes and singular solutions on quasi-uniform meshes are derived. Numerical results are given to support the theoretical conclusions.