Some observations on three classical BIBD constructions (Q5943881)

The authors use three well-known block design constructions to obtain new results on the number of non-isomorphic designs with certain parameters. In the first construction one starts with a \((v,b,r,k,1)\)-RBIBD and constructs a \((v+r,k+1,1)\)-BIBD by adding to all the blocks of each parallel class \(P\) an ``infinity'' point \(\infty_P\), and by arranging, if possible, the infinity points in a \((r,k+1,1)\)-BIBD. In the second construction one obtains a \((kv,k,1)\)-BIBD by filling each group of a TD-\((k,v)\) with a \((v,k,1)\)-BIBD. And in the third construction one starts with a TD-\((k,v)\) with point set \(X\) and group set \(\mathcal G\), and obtains a \((kv+1,k,1)\)-BIBD by adding a point \(\infty\) to \(X\) and by filling each extended group \(C \cup \infty\) with a \((v+1,k,1)\)-BIBD. For example, the result related to the first construction allows the authors to show that there exist at least 768 non-isomorphic \((49,4,1)\)-BIBDs (using the ingredient \((33,3,1)\)-RBIBD and \((16,4,1)\)-BIBD designs) and at least 169,774 non-isomorphic \((76,4,1)\)-BIBDs (using the ingredient \((51,3,1)\)-RBIBD and \((25,4,1)\)-BIBD designs). Using a result related to the second construction the authors show that there exist at least 5,985 non-isomorphic \((100,4,1)\)-BIBDs, at least 19,190,605 non-isomorphic \((112,4,1)\)-BIBDs, and at least 210 non-isomorphic \((112,4,1)\)-RBIBDs. And finally, the third construction is used to show that there exist at least 5,985 non-isomorphic \((97,4,1)\)-BIBDs, and at least 19,190,605 non-isomorphic \((109,4,1)\)-BIBDs.