ABSTRACT The stress‐induced initiation of pre‐existing natural fractures (NFs) constitutes a critical mechanism in forming complex fracture networks during hydraulic fracturing. Previous studies have largely overlooked this process, resulting in significant discrepancies between simulated and actual fracture complexity. To address this gap, we developed a numerical model based on the discontinuous displacement method to simulate the evolution of complex fracture networks. Simulation results reveal that pre‐existing NFs can initiate under both intersecting and non‐intersecting conditions with hydraulic fracture (HF). When the minimum horizontal effective stress exceeds 2 MPa, their propagation becomes significantly inhibited. As the induced stress field evolves dynamically with HF propagation, the initiation and growth of isolated NFs exhibit time‐dependent characteristics. Complex fracture networks cannot be efficiently created by hydraulic‐natural fracture intersections alone. This study provides new physical insights into the evolution of HF networks and advances numerical simulation methodologies. The findings establish a theoretical foundation for precise fracture network control in field applications.
Zheng et al. (Wed,) studied this question.