Case Study: INRS achieves large-scale 3D geological modeling with Geovariances Isatis

INRS draws on Isatis powerful algorithms to generate large scale 3D geological models

Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS), through its Eau Terre Environment Research Centre in Quebec City, needed a way to build large-scale 3D geological and hydrogeological models by integrating data from wells, boreholes, and seismic sources. Working at the intersection of geophysics, geostatistics, geology, and hydrogeology, the team needed efficient algorithms and a broad range of modeling methods to handle very large datasets and different geological configurations. Geovariances’ Isatis software was used for this purpose.

Geovariances’ Isatis provided the INRS team with a single geostatistical platform, including truncated Gaussian, multi-point, and plurigaussian simulations, plus 64-bit multicore performance for models ranging from half a million to several million cells. This helped the researchers generate realistic models, estimate spatial uncertainty across many realizations, and assimilate numerical simulation results with measured data to improve reliability and consistency. As a result, INRS was able to produce models useful beyond research labs and more easily share and adapt them for industrial partners.

Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique

Erwan Gloaguen

Professeur