Patent ID: 9663879
Date: 2017-05-30
CPC Classifications: D03D,D10B,E04G,Y10T

Claim:
1. A method of strengthening existing structures comprising: providing an existing structure made of concrete, steel, timber, masonry to be reinforced; providing a reinforcing sheet, wherein the reinforcing sheet comprises a warp direction and a weft direction perpendicular to the warp direction, wherein the reinforcing sheet comprises a plurality of weft fibers in the weft direction and an alternating pattern of reinforcement zones and slitting zones across the reinforcing sheet in the weft direction, the reinforcement zones having a reinforcement width in the weft direction of the reinforcing sheet and the slitting zones having a slitting width in the weft direction of the reinforcing sheet, wherein the reinforcement zones comprise unidirectional strengthening fibers in the warp direction of the reinforcement sheet and the slitting zones have an absence of strengthening fibers in the warp direction of the reinforcing sheet, wherein the warp and weft fibers in the reinforcement zones are in a plain weave, wherein the reinforcement sheet further comprises pairs of binder fibers in the warp direction at the interface between the reinforcement zones and the slitting zones, and wherein the pairs of binder fibers are in a leno weave construction; slitting the reinforcement sheet in the warp direction in at least one of the slitting zones; and adhering the reinforcing sheet comprising at least one reinforcement zone to the existing structure.