Solving nonlinear third-order three-point boundary value problems by boundary shape functions methods

Abstract

For nonlinear third-order three-point boundary value problems (BVPs), we develop two algorithms to find solutions, which automatically satisfy the specified three-point boundary conditions. We construct a boundary shape function (BSF), which is designed to automatically satisfy the boundary conditions and can be employed to develop new algorithms by assigning two different roles of free function in the BSF. In the first algorithm, we let the free functions be complete functions and the BSFs be the new bases of the solution, which not only satisfy the boundary conditions automatically, but also can be used to find solution by a collocation technique. In the second algorithm, we let the BSF be the solution of the BVP and the free function be another new variable, such that we can transform the BVP to a corresponding initial value problem for the new variable, whose initial conditions are given arbitrarily and terminal values are determined by iterations; hence, we can quickly find very accurate solution of nonlinear third-order three-point BVP through a few iterations. Numerical examples confirm the performance of the new algorithms.