Zonificación climática y herramientas para la gestión de la infraestructura vial de Costa Rica

Abstract

The objective of the research was to elaborate a zoning of Costa Rica with the necessary climatic variables for the design of pavement and other related structures, with the purpose of improving the road infrastructure management in general. The methodology analyzed the construction of a climatic zoning, improvements in the models of the country’s climatic variables that have been published and are generally used by professionals in various fields, creation of new models for climatic variables that have a direct impact on road infrastructure management, and the application of these models in the development of tools for road infrastructure management. The results identified 16 zones for management of road infrastructure and 8 flatlands zones, occurring floodings in C, CS, GNG, N, PC, PS, PN, UC, additionally showed as the altitude increases, the reliability of the PG decreases to both slopes (Caribbean and Pacific), and each of the 16 zones has its own water or humidity index. In conclusion, the climate negatively affects the road infrastructure, although it is possible to construct a zoning that integrates climate elements and characteristics; also, this zoning defines zones with a high potential development of the road infrastructure, such as GNG, PN, VG, y PC.