Geologic heterogeneity representation using high-order spatial cumulants for subsurface flow and transport simulations

Abstract

The effects of geological heterogeneity representation on the hydraulic properties of two-dimensional flow and transport simulations are studied using various stochastic simulation algorithms. An alternative multiple-point method (HOSIM) on the basis of high-order spatial cumulants and Legendre polynomials is used and compared to the multiple-point FilterSIM method, and the sequential Gaussian simulation (SGS) method. Conditional realizations of a fluvial reservoir system are generated by HOSIM, FilterSIM, and SGS methods. Then, the simulated hydraulic permeability fields (K) are used in a numerical groundwater flow and solute transport models. Numerical results showed that the HOSIM method created greater connectivity in the reservoir/aquifer (channel) network than FilterSIM and SGS realizations. The numerical simulations show that in a reservoir/aquifer system with a strongly connected network of high-K materials, the Gaussian and FilterSIM approaches are not as effective as HOSIM in reproducing this behavior. The simulations showed a good agreement between HOSIM realizations and the exhaustive reference image. Copyright 2011 by the American Geophysical Union.