Abstract: The numerical solution of wave front did not propagate forward when one tried to solve the onedimensional degenerate nonlinear parabolic (DNP) problem with the standard mixed finite element method. By analyzing the defect of the standard mixed finite element method for solving the degenerate equations, we proposed a nonstandard mixed finite element method. The definition of intermediate variable in the method did not include diffusion coefficient, but only the derivative of primal unknown function with respect to spatial variable. Based on typical model problems, the effectiveness of the proposed method was verified by the numerical experiments.

Key words: degenerate nonlinear parabolic problem, Barenblatt solution, nonlinear iteration, mixed finite element method