An illustrative geologic modeling method may comprise: obtaining a geologic model representing a subsurface region in physical space, the subsurface region being divided into multiple zones; sequentially generating a physical space simulation mesh for each of said multiple zones by: (a) mapping a current zone of the physical space geologic model to a current zone of a design space model representing a current zone of an unfaulted subsurface region; (b) gridding the design space model to obtain a design space mesh; (c) partitioning cells in the current zone of the design space mesh with faults mapped from the current zone of the physical space geologic model, thereby obtaining a partitioned design space mesh for the current zone; and (d) reverse mapping the partitioned design space mesh for the current zone to the physical space for the current zone.