Various subsurface engineering activities, including the stimulation of unconventional hydrocarbon reservoirs, the development of geothermal energy and the drilling and blasting operations, have been increasingly carried out in sedimentary rocks with layering structures. The success of these activities is reliant on the formation of fracture network created by hydraulic fracturing or the extension and interconnection of fractures to break the layered rock. This thesis dedicates to the fracture behaviours of layered rock with alternating stiff and soft layers. First, a new damage-plasticity constitutive model which takes account of the effect of confining pressure and strain rate on the strength and post-peak behaviour is proposed for layered rocks’ components (e.g., stiff layers, soft layers, and layer interfaces) subjected to various loading scenarios. The robustness and accuracy of the new model are demonstrated by validating against available experimental results and by benchmarking with the reported simulations. Then, the new constitutive model is used to numerically explore the fracture evolution behaviour of layered rock discs in the Brazilian test. The effects of inclination angle, Young's modulus of layer interface and mechanical contrast ratio on the fracture mechanism of layered rock disc are investigated. Finally, a versatile hydromechanical coupled finite-discrete element method is employed to simulate the non-planar three-dimensional simultaneous growth of multiple hydraulic fractures in layered tight reservoirs with various mechanical contrast ratios. The mechanism behind the simultaneous growth and methods to promote the simultaneous growth are also discussed. The numerical results obtained from this thesis provide some guidelines in designing the engineering projects conducted in layered rocks and thus help field operators to maximize the productivity.