A method involves generating a hydraulic fracture growth pattern for a fracture network. The generating involves representing hydraulic fractures as a vertically stacked elements, extending the represented hydraulic fractures laterally from the wellbore and into the formation to form a hydraulic fracture network by adding new elements to the vertically stacked elements over time, determining hydraulic fracture parameters of the represented hydraulic fractures, determining transport parameters for the proppant passing through the hydraulic fracture network, deriving an estimated fracture tip velocity from a pressure and a stress profile of the formation; extending a height of the vertically stacked elements and the new elements over time based on the derived velocity to form extended vertically stacked elements. If a zone property change is encountered, then generating another stack of the vertically stacked elements in the zones of property change by splitting at least a portion of the extended vertically stacked elements.