Advances in the development of concrete materials have led to increasingly complicated composite systems. Investigation of such complex systems by traditional sampling methods requires a large sample size to understand the influence and interactions of all important factors, and conducting full size experiments with a large number of samples could be onerous and expensive. To devise more efficient experimental design and statistical modeling, this study explores the use of alternative sampling methods, and two space filling techniques, Latin hypercube and space packing, are adopted to investigate a cementfly ash-silica fume ternary paste system. The applicability of these space filling sampling methods was tested by modeling the material performance – evaluated here using microhardness – of the ternary paste system using Response Surface Methodology. It was found that the space filling design methods and microhardness test were non-ideal and provided poor results in their corresponding models due to relatively large noise caused by the proximity between sample points. However, Response Surface Methodology was confirmed to be not only a convenient tool for modeling the performance of composite systems but also a means for comparing sampling methods by their model accuracy.

混凝土材料发展的进步导致复合系统越来越复杂。通过传统的采样方法对这种复杂系统进行调查需要大样本量，以了解所有重要因素的影响和相互作用，并且对大量样本进行全尺寸实验可能是繁重且昂贵的。为了设计更有效的实验设计和统计建模，本研究探索了替代采样方法的使用，并采用两种空间填充技术（拉丁超立方体和空间填充）研究了粉煤灰-硅灰三元糊体系。这些空间填充采样方法的适用性通过使用响应表面方法对三元糊料系统的材料性能（此处使用显微硬度进行评估）进行建模来测试。结果发现，空间填充设计方法和显微硬度测试是不理想的，并且由于采样点之间的邻近导致相对较大的噪声，因此在其相应的模型中提供的结果较差。但是，响应表面方法学不仅被证明是对复合系统性能进行建模的便捷工具，而且还是通过其模型精度来比较采样方法的一种手段。结果发现，空间填充设计方法和显微硬度测试是不理想的，并且由于采样点之间的邻近导致相对较大的噪声，因此在其相应的模型中提供的结果较差。但是，响应表面方法学不仅被证明是对复合系统性能进行建模的便捷工具，而且还是通过其模型精度比较采样方法的一种手段。结果发现，空间填充设计方法和显微硬度测试是不理想的，并且由于采样点之间的邻近导致相对较大的噪声，因此在其相应的模型中提供的结果较差。但是，响应表面方法学不仅被证明是对复合系统性能进行建模的便捷工具，而且还是通过其模型精度来比较采样方法的一种手段。