Modelling of Relay Ramp Using Fault Facies and Truncated Gaussian Simulation

Relay ramps may considerably control fluid flow across otherwise sealing fault zones and, therefore, they are subjected to fluid flow simulation studies in relation with groundwater extraction and petroleum production. However, these studies used mainly deterministic modelling approach based on field observations. In this paper, we extend this approach by incorporating a conditional simulation technique, i.e. truncated Gaussian simulation (TGS), to provide stochastic elements in the modeling work and to improve the representation of detailed relay ramp structure. TGS attributes (facies proportions and variogram ranges of the Gaussian field) are defined based on field observations of the Delicate Arches Ramp, Utah, which is characterized by the presence of three structural sets. Groups of facies defined based on the structural sets are modelled independently using TGS, and the final model is generated by merging the TGS realizations. The relay ramp facies model is used to generate upscaled models. The upscaling procedure use petrophysical values and coarse grid used in a recent flow simulation study of the Delicate Arches Ramp deterministic model. Flow simulation results show that the role of relay ramp as conduits for fluid flow is more pronounced in models built using TGS than that in deterministic models.