A sequential factorial analysis approach to characterize the effects of uncertainties for supporting air quality management

This study proposes a sequential factorial analysis (SFA) approach for supporting regional air quality management under uncertainty. SFA is capable not only of examining the interactive effects of input parameters, but also of analyzing the effects of constraints. When there are too many factors involved in practical applications, SFA has the advantage of conducting a sequence of factorial analyses for characterizing the effects of factors in a systematic manner. The factor-screening strategy employed in SFA is effective in greatly reducing the computational effort. The proposed SFA approach is applied to a regional air quality management problem for demonstrating its applicability. The results indicate that the effects of factors are evaluated quantitatively, which can help decision makers identify the key factors that have significant influence on system performance and explore the valuable information that may be veiled beneath their interrelationships.

► A sequential factorial analysis was proposed to examine the effects of uncertainty.
► Influence of a number of factors of interest was studied in a systematic manner.
► A factor-screening strategy was used to reduce the computational effort.
► Interactive effects of parameters and constraints on model outputs were analyzed.