Numerical analysis of a wave equation for lossy media obeying a frequency power law

Abstract We study a wave equation with a nonlocal time fractional damping term that models the effects of acoustic attenuation characterized by a frequency-dependent power law. First we prove the existence of a unique solution to this equation with particular attention paid to the handling of the fractional derivative. Then we derive an explicit time-stepping scheme based on the finite element method in space and a combination of convolution quadrature and second-order central differences in time. We conduct a full error analysis of the mixed time discretization and in turn the fully space-time discretized scheme. Error estimates are given for both smooth solutions and solutions with a singularity at $t = 0$ of a type that is typical for equations involving fractional time derivatives. A number of numerical results are presented to support the error analysis.