ABSTRACTSpecifying survey parameters is more challenging when dealing with complex structures such as faults due to the complicated wavefield behaviour involved in these structures. Seismic modelling enables geophysicists to have a better understanding of the subsurface image before seismic acquisition, processing and interpretation. In this regard, seismic survey modelling is employed to construct a model close to the real structure, and to obtain very realistic synthetic seismic data. Therefore, a survey designer can investigate the effects of various survey parameters such as shot and receiver positions, and receiver line bearing on the resulting image using illumination and resolution analyses. The primary objective of this study is to apply seismic modelling to designing seismic survey parameters such as receiver line bearing, wavelets and their frequencies to analyse the resolution and illumination of the faulted target. A ray-based seismic model was built using 2D seismic data, geological reports and well logs. A pre-stack depth migration simulator was used to evaluate the effect of source wavelets with different peak frequencies (20, 60 and 80 Hz) on the resulting seismic image. This simulation indicated that a source wavelet with a peak frequency of 20 Hz could not image the target fault plane, but higher peak frequencies (60 and 80 Hz) show higher resolution and better recognition of the fault plane. Therefore, for any wavelet frequency, it is necessary to assess the ability of the fault illumination. The results proved that a survey designer could enhance the image of fault planes in a seismic section by applying ray-based analyses, concerning illumination and resolution of the fault image.