Abstract
Rock fractures are crucial conduits for fluid flow in fractured rock masses. Three-dimensional (3D) discrete fracture network (DFN) modeling approach, which can explicitly characterize the fracture and its network arrangement, has been increasingly utilized in various engineering applications. This paper presents a review of the development and application of 3D DFNs for modeling naturally fractured rocks. The issues relating to generation, discretization and flow calculation of 3D DFNs are investigated. Extensions to modeling multiphase flow in discrete-fractured media using DFNs are also considered. This work can help researchers to recognize previous achievements on 3D DFNs and identify potential future works.
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