Overlapping faults and their effect on fluid flow in different reservoir types; a lidar-based outcrop modeling and flow simulation study
Overlapping faults and their effect on fluid flow in different reservoir types; a lidar-based outcrop modeling and flow simulation study
AAPG Bulletin (March 2009) 93 (3): 407-427
- aerial photography
- applications
- AVO methods
- Canyonlands National Park
- depositional environment
- dip
- effects
- faults
- fluvial environment
- geometry
- laser methods
- lidar methods
- lithofacies
- marine environment
- models
- outcrops
- permeability
- petroleum
- physical properties
- porosity
- pressure
- production
- radar methods
- reconstruction
- recovery
- remote sensing
- reservoir properties
- reservoir rocks
- shallow-water environment
- simulation
- structural controls
- technology
- three-dimensional models
- United States
- Utah
- virtual reality
- Devil's Lane
In this article we focus on the potential of fault-overlap zones as conduits for fluid flow in a variety of reservoir types. Light detection and ranging (LIDAR) technology were applied to collect a three-dimensional, spatially constrained data set from a well-exposed fault-overlap zone that crops out in the Devil's Lane area of the Canyonlands National Park in Utah. A virtual outcrop was generated and used to extract structural and stratigraphic data that were taken into a reservoir modeling software and reconstructed. The outcrop-based model was flow simulated and used to test fluid flow through a real-world fault-overlap zone. A structural framework was built based on collected outcrop data and combined with a series of nine different facies models. The different facies models included an eolian model based on the outcrop and a range of synthetic fluvial and shallow marine systems. Results show that, for certain depositional models, cross-fault reservoir communication may be poor despite the geometric connectivity of the relay beds. This was the case for low net/gross fluvial models and shoreface models. Conversely, high net/gross fluvial systems and eolian systems show good communication through the same relay zone. Overall, the results show that, in the presence of a fault-overlap zone, pressure communication across a relay ramp may still be poor depending on the scale of the faults and relay ramp as well as the geometry and volume of the sands.