US Patent 10503846 Constructing flexible space-filling designs for computer experiments

A computing device generates representative points, each representing a potential design point for a design space. The computing device determines for the design space primary clusters, a categorical factor, and at least two levels for the categorical factor. The computing device, for each of the primary clusters, selects a design point from each sub-cluster of the respective primary cluster. The computing device, for each of the primary clusters, allocates the at least two levels of the categorical factor, such that a level of the at least two levels is allocated to each selected design point in the respective primary cluster. The computing device modifies an initial sub-design that represents the selected design points allocated a given level of the categorical factor by increasing separation between design points allocated a same level of the categorical factor. The computing device outputs to an output device a modified design for the design space.