Two-grid Raviart-Thomas mixed finite element methods combined with Crank-Nicolson scheme for a class of nonlinear parabolic equations.

In this paper, we discuss a priori error estimates of two-grid mixed finite element methods for a class of nonlinear parabolic equations. The lowest order Raviart-Thomas mixed finite element and Crank-Nicolson scheme are used for the spatial and temporal discretization. First, we derive the optimal a priori error estimates for all variables. Second, we present a two-grid scheme and analyze its convergence. It is shown that if the two mesh sizes satisfy h = H2, then the two-grid method achieves the same convergence property as the Raviart-Thomas mixed finite element method. Finally, we give a numerical example to verify the theoretical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]