Numerical simulation of the nonlinear dynamics of harmonically driven Riesz-fractional extensions of the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam chains

In this work, we introduce a spatially discrete model that is a modification of the well-known α-Fermi-Pasta-Ulam chain with damping. The system is perturbed at one end by a harmonic disturbance irradiating at a frequency in the forbidden band-gap of the classical regime, and a nonlocal coupling between the oscillators is considered using discrete Riesz fractional derivatives. We propose fully discrete expressions to approximate an energy functional of the system, and we use them to calculate the total energy of fractional chains over a relatively long period of time [Fract. Diff. Appl. 4 (2004) 153-162]. The approach is thoroughly tested in the case of local couplings against known qualitative results, including simulations of the process of nonlinear recurrence in the traditional chains of anharmonic oscillators. As an application, we provide evidence that the process of supratransmission is present in spatially discrete Fermi-Pasta-Ulam lattices with Riesz fractional derivatives in space. Moreover, we perform numerical experiments for small and large amplitudes of the harmonic disturbance. In either case, we establish the dependency of the critical amplitude at which supratransmission begins as a function of the driving frequency. Our results are in good agreement with the analytic predictions for the classical Fermi-Pasta-Ulam chain.