A conflict-free, path-level parallelization approach for sequential simulation algorithms

•We present a path-level parallelization strategy for sequential simulation.•The proposed method does not require conflict resolution operations.•The methodology is illustrated with a parallel implementation of SGS.•The strategy improves performance and allows exact reproduction of results.•The parallel version of SGS reproduces all the statistics of the serial SGS.

Pixel-based simulation algorithms are the most widely used geostatistical technique for characterizing the spatial distribution of natural resources. However, sequential simulation does not scale well for stochastic simulation on very large grids, which are now commonly found in many petroleum, mining, and environmental studies. With the availability of multiple-processor computers, there is an opportunity to develop parallelization schemes for these algorithms to increase their performance and efficiency. Here we present a conflict-free, path-level parallelization strategy for sequential simulation. The method consists of partitioning the simulation grid into a set of groups of nodes and delegating all available processors for simulation of multiple groups of nodes concurrently. An automated classification procedure determines which groups are simulated in parallel according to their spatial arrangement in the simulation grid. The major advantage of this approach is that it does not require conflict resolution operations, and thus allows exact reproduction of results. Besides offering a large performance gain when compared to the traditional serial implementation, the method provides efficient use of computational resources and is generic enough to be adapted to several sequential algorithms.