A Mixed-Variable Experimental Design Method

Abstract

Mixed-variable problems are inevitable in engineering. However, few researches pay attention to discrete variables. This paper proposed a mixed-variable experimental design method (ODCD): first, the design variables were divided into discrete variables and continuous variables; then, the DVD method was employed for handling discrete variables, the LHD method was applied for continuous variables, and finally, a Columnwise-Pairwise Algorithm was used for the overall optimization of the design matrix. Experimental results demonstrated that the ODCD method outperforms in terms of the sample space coverage performance.