Number of edges in $k$-uniform linear hypergraph

Question

Let $3 \leq k < n \in \mathbb{N}$. By $[n]^k$ we denote the collection of the subsets of $n = \{0,\ldots,n-1\}$ that have size $k$. We say that a hypergraph $H=(n,E)$ is $k$-uniform if $E\subseteq [n]^k$. Moreover, $H=(n, E)$ is linear if $|e_1\cap e_2| \leq 1$ for $e_1\neq e_2\in E$, and it is maximal linear if $E\subseteq E'\subseteq [n]^k$ and $E\neq E'$ imply that $(n, E')$ is no longer linear.

Question. Are there integers $k < n$ with $k\geq 3$ and maximal linear hypergraphs $H_i = (n, E_i)$ for $i = 1,2$ such that $|E_1| \neq |E_2|$? (If yes, it would also be interesting to know how big the difference of the edge sets can become in terms of $n$, but this information is not needed for acceptance of answer.)

Answer 1

For the case $k=3$ we have partial Steiner triple systems as a design theory name for $3$-uniform linear hypergraphs. The spectrum $S^{(3)}(v)$ consists of the sizes of maximal partial Steiner triple systems taking triples from a $v$-element set. The paper below gives the final steps in determining $S^{(3)}(v)$ for each $v$. I can access the paper through my university, but I did not find a freely available version.

The spectrum of maximal partial steiner triple systems

However, the main result (and other references) can be found in

Maximal designs and configurations - a survey

looking in Section 9 about partial Steiner triple systems. In particular, you do have multiple sizes in the spectrum. If $v = 12k + r$, then the smallest is around $12k^2$ while the largest is around $24k^2$ (of course with linear and constant terms depending on cases $\pmod{12}$ as well as other caveats).

Answer 2

If all maximal $k$-regular linear hypergraphs of order $n$ had the same size, then finding the maximum possible size would be a trivial problem, just use the greedy algorithm.

For a concrete counterexample, let $k=3$ and $n=7$. The Steiner triple system on $7$ points (the Fano plane) has $7$ triples. Here is a maximal linear $3$-hypergraph with $5$ triples: $ABC$, $ADE$, $BFG$, $CDF$, $CEG$.