The System Anchor Overview
What is the Cintec™ reinforcement and anchoring system?
The Cintec™ reinforcement and anchoring system is a versatile method of structural reinforcement that is tailored to meet the specific strengthening and repair requirements of individual projects. Cintec™ reinforcement anchors are used in historical buildings, masonry bridges, monument repair, high rise buildings, retaining walls and harbour walls. And these are just a sampling of the areas a Cintec™ reinforcement anchor can be used. Cintec™ reinforcement anchors can stabilize and strengthen an unreinforced masonry structure without the need for external and internal steel bracing.
Research in the 1960s revealed that the construction industry needed an improved fixing system. The Cintec™ reinforcement and anchoring system answered that need, meeting the following objectives:
- Easily fixed, even in weak substrates
- Easily used in poor-quality materials
- Bridges cavities
- Sympathetic with existing structures — cementitious based
- Versatile
- Easily adapted by designers for differing applications
- Durable
- Capable of rapid manufacture
The technical embodiment is simple in that the main steel body of the anchor is completely surrounded by a fabric sock injected with a cementitious fluid grout.
The anchor is located in an over-sized drill hole joining the materials to be anchored together. The fluid grout is injected under pressure through the middle of the anchor, until it reaches the remote end. There, it passes through a series of grout flood holes into the fabric sock. The entire assembly inflates like a balloon.
The excess milk of the grout and bonding agent passes through the fabric sock, both fixing and providing a mechanical bond to the parent material. Variation in the size and shape of the individual components enable the basic method to be easily adapted to meet a designer’s requirements.