Creating Topologically Consistent Meshes Describing 3D Geometries Arising in Geological Modelling of Faulted Regions

Jay E. Leonard¹, Tom Schutter¹, Barrie Wells², Ricki Walker³, and Dylan Griffiths^3
1Platte River Associates of Boulder, Colorado (PRA)
²Conwy Valley Consortium (CVC)
³University of Wales, Bangor (UWB)

Platte River Associates (PRA), Conwy Valley Consortium (CVC) and University of Wales, Bangor (UWB) are seeking to reconcile structural deformation history with the solution of equations of state describing heat flow and pressure.

The evolution of fault and fracture properties and the structural deformation in basin modelling are modelled in reverse time. Modelling of fluid flow and temperature history, through numerical solution of the PDEs describing heat and pressure, are best modelled in forward time. The need to reconcile these two apparently incompatible modelling approaches introduces challenging problems in both mathematics and geology.

In the spirit of the AAPG Hedberg series we wish to take this opportunity to discuss selected problems which we have encountered and to present their solutions. In particular, identifying problems arising in specifying geometrical descriptions of the rock bodies / fault systems and in the evolution of the resulting structural grids through time. We will describe their consequences for inverse problems, and illustrate some fundamental results which we believe to be currently missing from the literature.

Of thekey conceptsto be addressed during the conference, we will consider:
1. Evolution of rock, fault and fractures properties
5. Structural and salt deformation in basin modeling
6. Data quality, inversion and uncertainty reduction

 

AAPG Search and Discover Article #90066©2007 AAPG Hedberg Conference, The Hague, The Netherlands