On a generalized diffusion equation arising in petroleum engineering

In this work we investigate a model which describes diffusion in petroleum engineering. The original model, which already generalizes the standard one (usual diffusion equation) to a non-local model taking into account the memory effects, is here further extended to cope with many other different possible situations. Namely, we consider the Hilfer fractional derivative which by its nature interpolates the Riemann-Liouville fractional derivative and the Caputo fractional derivative (the one that has been studied previously). At the same time, this kind of derivative provides us with a whole range of other types of fractional derivatives. We treat both the Neumann boundary conditions case and the Dirichlet boundary conditions case and find explicit solutions. In addition to that, we also discuss the case of an infinite reservoir.