On three-designs of small order

For positive integers t≤k≤v and λ we define a t-design, denoted Bi[k,λ;v], to be a pair (X,B) where X is a set of points and B is a family, (Biε{lunate}I), of subsets of X, called blocks, which satisfy the following conditions: (i) |X|=v, the order of the design, (ii) |Bi|=k for each iε{lunate}I, and (iii) every t-subset of X is contained in precisely λ blocks. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the existence of 3-designs with 3≤k≤v≤32 and λ>0. Wilson has shown that there exists a constant N(t, k, v) such that designs Bt[k,λ;v] exist provided λ>N(t,k,v) and λ satisfies the trivial necessary conditions. We show that N(3,k,v)=0 for most of the cases under consideration and we give a numerical upper bound on N(3, k, v) for all 3≤k≤v≤32. We give explicit constructions for all the designs needed. © 1983.