Determination of the Optimum Value of Depth and Position of Baffle Blocks using Studies Designed by Taguchi and Full Factorial Methods

If too many variables with multiple levels for investigation of hydraulic phenomenon are effective, finding the optimum combination of variables in full experimental study is very time-consuming and costly. In many other sciences instead of full factorial method, Taguchi method is used. Taguchi method uses fractional factorial combination and meanwhile reduces number of experiments, tunable comparison of all the variables will be ensured. The purpose of this research is to find out whether using Taguchi method and reducing the number of tests could yield results closer to the results of experiments designed with full factorial method. If the answer is yes, what will be the amount of errors in the results? On the other hand, how reliable is the optimum value for each variable. Moreover, how much time and money could be saved from application of the Taguchi method in the study of a hydraulic phenomenon. For this purpose, experimental studies were made to evaluate the effect of height and position of baffle block under different flow conditions in order to minimize the scour downstream of the stilling basin. In addition to the analysis of the results, the results of Taguchi and full factorial methods are compared from different aspects. The results showed that Taguchi method predicts the optimum combination of variables with high accuracy and saves up to 74% of the total time spent.