FR2863249A1 - Floating structure for use in floating swimming pool, has floating bearing infrastructure with assembly composed of caissons apt to float and assembly composed of floats, where caissons and floats are identical - Google Patents

Abstract

The structure has a floating bearing infrastructure (1) with an assembly (1A) composed of caissons (3a-3g) made of concrete individually apt to float and attached to each other by tension bars. An assembly (1B) is composed of floats (4a-4f) arranged below a part of the caissons of the assembly (1A). The caissons have identical dimensions and the floats (4a-4f) are identical and interchangeable. An independent claim is also included for a floating swimming pool including a floating structure.

Description

The present invention relates to a floating structure of the type comprising

  a floating load-bearing infrastructure and a superstructure supported by the infrastructure.

  As is well known, some living microorganisms and macro-organisms of underwater flora and fauna tend to settle and accumulate on submerged parts of ships, boats, barges and other floating structures such as pontoons. or floating platforms, for industrial, commercial or recreational use. This phenomenon is all the more sensitive as the floating structure is relatively immobile on the water, or even intended to remain stationary for most of his life. Living organisms that attach and accumulate on the outer walls of the submerged portion of the floating structure first attack the outer skin of the outer walls and then the outer walls themselves. If measures are not taken to remedy this, it may result in medium or long-term water infiltration inside the floating structure, or even significant leakage likely to threaten the survival of the floating structure.

  Therefore, in general, it is necessary to subject the floating structures to a fairing operation (small or large fairing) at more or less regular intervals. It is an operation of bringing the floating structure in a place where it can be dry, to then allow at least a cleaning of the outer walls of the immersed part of the floating structure in order to rid it of living organisms and other dirt that has become attached to it. Often, the outer coating of the walls of the immersed part is also redone, after having repaired, if necessary, the superficial or deep wounds inflicted on the outer walls of the immersed part, even after replacing wall elements that have become insufficiently reliable. or pierced by corrosion.

  The problem is that, once they are in service, some floating structures are not always movable to be brought into a refit basin to undergo a refit. This is particularly the case of floating structures that are intended to be installed in a fixed position and / or very rarely moved. In addition, even if the floating structure can be easily moved over the water, the time that is required to bring the floating structure from its place of operation to a place where it can be put to dry, then to perform the operations of refit and finally to bring the floating structure to its place of operation, can be extremely long depending on the distance to the place where is made dry the floating structure and the importance of fairing operations to perform. In any case, it results in a more or less long period of inactivity of the floating structure, resulting in financial losses.

  An object of the present invention is therefore to provide a floating structure of the type indicated in the preamble, the maintenance of which, in particular the fairing, can be carried out practically without interruption of the operation of the floating structure and the activities which take place on the -this.

  Another object of the invention is to provide a modular floating structure which can be assembled and disassembled into several modules which are individually able to float and to be moved from one point to another on the water by floating, the structure being able to in addition to evolve over time by rearranging the modules and / or by adding additional modules.

  For this purpose, the subject of the invention is a floating structure comprising a floating load-bearing infrastructure and a superstructure carried by the infrastructure, characterized in that the floating load-bearing infrastructure comprises a first assembly composed of several concrete caissons individually capable of floating. and attached to each other by connecting means and a second assembly consisting of several ballastable and deballastable floats, which are arranged below at least a portion of the caissons of the first assembly to support said first assembly and the superstructure installed on this one.

  The floating structure according to the invention may further comprise one or more of the following characteristics: the floats are metallic and have sufficient buoyancy to keep the first set and the superstructure out of water even in the absence of part of the floats of the second set; floats have a parallelepipedic general shape; - Each concrete box is associated with a group of floats; the floats of at least one group of floats have identical shapes and dimensions: each box and the group of floats associated therewith constitutes an entity which is equipped with its own pumping group for ballasting and deballasting the floats of said group of floats; associated floats; each float comprises a water intake pipe having a lower end which opens into a first downwardly open recess formed in the lower surface of the float and forming a water intake chamber closed by a grid, and an upper end which opens into a second upwardly open recess formed in the upper surface of the float and which is provided with a connection for its connection to a pumping unit; lo - each float further comprises a vent pipe which communicates the inside of the float with the outside and which opens out into the second recess where it is provided with a connection, and a ballast pipe deballasting having a lower end which opens into the float near its bottom wall and an upper end which opens into the second recess and which is provided with a connection for its connection to the pumping unit; each float comprises at least one watertight compartment which is separated from the rest of the interior volume of the float and which forms a reserve of buoyancy when the float is entirely ballasted; the caissons and the floats are provided with complementary positioning means that can be assembled by complementarity of shape by a relative vertical movement of the floats with respect to the caissons, and locking means capable of maintaining the complementary positioning means in their assembled state; ; the caissons and the floats respectively have a bottom wall and an upper wall which have surface conditions such as after placing each float below a corresponding caisson and deballasting the float set up, the float and the corresponding caisson are held motionless relative to each other simply by the weight of the box and the friction between said upper and lower walls; one of the concrete caissons is shaped so as to have at least one pool basin.

  The invention also relates to a floating pool comprising a floating structure having one or more of the characteristics defined above.

  Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will emerge during the following description of one embodiment of the floating structure, given by way of purely illustrative and in no way limiting example with reference to the appended drawings in which: Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view of a floating structure according to the present invention; - Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional view of the infrastructure of the floating structure according to the invention, in the assembled state; - Figure 3 is a schematic view showing, on a larger scale and in vertical longitudinal section, one of the modules 5a to 5d of the infrastructure shown in Figure 1; FIG. 4 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view of a floating concrete caisson forming part of the infrastructure of FIG. 2; FIG. 5 is a transverse vertical sectional view along line V-V of FIG. 4; - Figure 6 is a transverse vertical sectional view along the line VI-VI of Figure 4; - Figure 7 is a horizontal sectional view along the line VII-VII of Figure 4; - Figure 8 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view of another module forming part of the infrastructure of Figure 2; - Figure 9 is a transverse vertical sectional view along the line IX-IX of Figure 8; - Figure 10 is a horizontal sectional view along the line X-X of Figure 8; - Figure 11 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view of another module or concrete floating box of the infrastructure of Figure 4; FIG. 12 is a transverse vertical sectional view along line XII-XII of FIG. 1; - Figure 13 is a horizontal sectional view along the line XIII-XIII.

  In the following description, the invention will be described about a floating pool. It should be understood, however, that the invention is in no way limited to a floating pool, as it is applicable to many other floating structures, for industrial, commercial or leisure use, as for example a floating hotel, a restaurant. floating, a floating nightclub, a floating platform for supporting premises for technical and / or scientific and / or habitation, a landing stage, a pontoon such as a pontoon crane, etc ...

  Referring now to FIG. 1, it can be seen that the floating structure 15 according to the invention comprises an infrastructure 1 and a superstructure 2 intended to be installed and carried by the infrastructure 1.

  The infrastructure 1 comprises a first set 1A composed of several caissons 3a-3g concrete, which are individually capable of floating, and a second set 1B consisting of several floats 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d and 4f which are arranged below at least a portion of the caissons 3a to 3f of the first assembly 1A. Preferably, the floats are metallic with an appropriate anti-corrosion protection as will be seen later.

  Each of the wells 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d and 3f is associated with a group of floats 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d and 4f, respectively. For example, three floats 4a are associated with the concrete box 3a and form with it a module 5a of the infrastructure 1. Preferably, the three metal floats 4a are identical, that is to say they have the same general shape, for example parallelepiped, and the same dimensions so as to be interchangeable.

  Likewise, three metal floats 4b, three metal floats 4c and three metal floats 4d are respectively associated with concrete caissons 3b, 3c and 3d and form with them respectively a module 5b, a module 5c and a module 5d of the infrastructure. 1.

  Preferably, all the caissons 3a, 3b, 3c and 3d have identical or substantially identical dimensions, at least as regards their length and their width, and preferably also their height, and all the metal floats 4a, 4b, 4c and 4d are identical so that they are perfectly interchangeable. As will be seen later, this greatly facilitates the maintenance of the floating structure.

  On the other hand, eight metal floats 4f are associated with the concrete caisson 3f which has a length and a width different from those of the caissons 3a to 3d. The eight floats 4f together with the box 3f form a module 5f of the infrastructure 1. Preferably, the eight floats 4f have a parallelepipedal shape and are identical to each other so as to be interchangeable with each other.

  In the embodiment shown here, the eight floats 4f have a length and a width that are different from those of the twelve floats 4a to 4d. However, all the floats 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d and 4f preferably have the same height so that for a balanced load the infrastructure 1 has the same draft substantially over its entire extent.

  In the example shown in FIG. 1, no float is directly associated with the two concrete caissons 3e and 3g which are represented in this figure in an already assembled state. Each of the two boxes 3e and 3g has a general parallelepiped shape. As is clearly visible in FIG. 2, the two boxes 3e and 3g have a length equal to that of the box 3f. The sum of the widths of the three boxes 3e, 3f and 3g is substantially equal to the length of any of the boxes 3a to 3d which is itself equal to the width of the infrastructure 1 so that the latter, seen in plan, has a general rectangular shape. Each of the two boxes 3f and 3g constitutes a module of the infrastructure 1 and has a height equal to or substantially equal to that of the other modules 5a, 5b, 5c, 5d and 5f of the infrastructure 1.

  In the embodiment described here, the box 3e, shown in detail in Figures 4 to 7, is shaped to have at least one pool pool 6 (Figures 1, 4 and 5). In the case where the basin 6 has a length of 25 m and a width of 10 m, with a depth of 2 m in the large bath and 0.90 m in the small bath, the 3rd box may have for example a length 45.6 m, a width of 10.4 m and a height of 5 m.

  In this case, the box 3g, shown in detail in Figures 11 to 13, has a length of 45.6 m, a width of 1.38 m and a height of 5 m. The casing 3f, shown in detail in FIGS. 8 to 10, has a length of 45.6 m, a width of 8.77 m and a height of 2.2 m in its highest part (its left part in the Figure 9) and 1.8 m in its remaining part placed directly above the floats 4f. The other four boxes 3a to 3d have substantially the same Io dimensions, namely about 19 to 20 m in length, about 11 m in width and 1.8 m in height.

  All the caissons 3a to 3g are preferably made of a concrete conforming to the XP P18-305 standard for the environment class 2b1, with a strength class B35 and a binder dosage equivalent to at least 330kg / m3. Preferably, the concrete is dosed at 400 kg / m 3 in fines (particles smaller than 0.16 mm) to obtain good compactness and good resistance to segregation. All boxes have a bottom wall which has for example a thickness of 250 mm. The side walls, the upper walls, the internal partitions and / or the frames of the boxes have for example a thickness of 200 mm.

  When the pool is intended to be installed on a river, the caissons 3a to 3g can be built on a platform installed along an existing industrial wharf along the river, preferably in the immediate vicinity of a power plant. concrete close to the job, in order to eliminate as much as possible the nuisance of the building site. The platform for prefabrication of concrete boxes may consist, for example, of a platform supported by several masts by means of hydraulic cylinders making it possible to move the platform vertically according to techniques similar to those developed for example in the case of certain platforms. marine forms. Concrete caissons can be manufactured while the platform or platform is at the wharf, and the plateau can be lowered and immersed in the river to put the prefabricated caissons into the water for transportation. float on the water using a tug or pusher and for assembly with the floats as will be described later.

  The actual construction of the caissons may be effected by first casting the raft (bottom wall) of the caisson, then casting the outer side walls, the inner partitions and the reinforcing ribs with appropriate formwork, and and finally casting the upper slab and, where appropriate, the bottom slab of the pool on shuttering plates supported by appropriate props.

  In the embodiment described here, the twelve floats 4a to 4d have the following dimensions: length 10.7 m, width 18.4 m, height 3.2 m, and the eight floats 4f have the following dimensions: length 11.2 m, width 3.3 m, height 3.2 m. All floats are preferably built according to the rules of Bureau Véritas, mention 1 o slow navigation NI2, with a longitudinal structure.

  In the case where the floats have the dimensions indicated above, each of the floats 4a to 4d may comprise, for example, fourteen longitudinal members spaced approximately 492 mm apart and each of the floats 4f may comprise eight longitudinal members spaced apart approximately 471 mm apart.

  The bottom wall 7, the two transverse vertical walls 8, the two longitudinal vertical walls 9 and the top wall 11 of all the floats 4a to 4d (FIG. 3) may for example be constituted by sheet steel having a thickness of 6 mm. The floats may also comprise transverse vertical internal partitions 12, also in sheet steel, which extend only over part of the height of the floats as shown in FIG. 3. The inner and outer surfaces of the walls 7 to 11 and the partitions 12 are provided with a suitable multilayer corrosion protection coating, for example of the "Hempadur" type from Hempel Coatings, or the like.

  Preferably, each of the caissons 4a to 4f comprises at least one sealed compartment, preferably two watertight compartments 13 situated respectively at the ends of the caisson as shown in FIG. 3. Each compartment 13 may for example be formed by disposing a rectangular plate 14 of appropriate dimensions, made of sheet steel, obliquely, for example 45 in each of the two upper corners of the box as shown in Figure 3, and welding the edges of each plate 14 to the walls 8, 9 and 11. Each plate 14 may comprise an opening sealed by a inspection hatch 15. Each sealed compartment 13 constitutes a reserve of buoyancy when the corresponding float is fully ballasted as will be described later, thus ensuring the floatability of the floats and ensuring their safety and security. stability when handled in water.

  To allow their ballasting, each of the floats 4a to 4d may for example comprise a water intake pipe 16 whose lower end opens into a recess 17 open downwards, which is formed in the lower surface of the float and which forms a grid intake chamber closed by a grid 18. The mesh of the grid 18 have a sufficient size to stop foreign bodies that could clog the pipe 16. The upper end of the pipe 16 opens into another recess 19 open up, formed in the upper surface of the float. In the recess 19, the upper end of the pipe 16 is provided with a connection (not shown) allowing the connection of the pipe 16, via a flexible pipe 21, to a pumping unit, for example to a pumping unit 20 installed in the concrete box located above the float. It could also be a pumping group installed on a service boat.

  Each float 4a-4d further comprises a vent pipe 22 which communicates the inside of the float with the outside and which opens outwards into the recess 19 where it is provided with a connection allowing connecting the vent pipe 22 to one end of another flexible pipe 23, the other end opens into the concrete box placed above the float. However, the other end of the hose 23 could also be connected to an air compressor for injecting compressed air into the float if desired to facilitate or assist deballasting thereof. Each float 4a-4d further comprises a ballasting / deballasting pipe 24 whose lower end opens into the float near its bottom wall 7 as shown in FIG. 3. The upper end of the pipe 24 opens into the recess 19 and is provided at this point with a connection (not shown) allowing its connection, via another flexible pipe 25, to the above-mentioned pumping unit, for example to the pumping unit 20 installed in the box. concrete located above the float.

  Preferably, each box 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d or 3f placed above a group of floats 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d or 4f has its own pumping group 20. Each pumping group 20 may comprise a motor pump whose suction and discharge sides are connected, each by a three-way valve with two collectors. one of the two manifolds is connected by a single valve to the hose 21, while the other manifold is connected by another single valve to the hose 25, and this for each of the floats of the group of floats placed under the box in concrete. Each pump unit may also include a backup pump unit that can be connected in parallel to the motor pump mentioned above. Thanks to the arrangement described above, the water can be sucked into the river by the pumping unit 20 through the pipe 16 and discharged into the float by the pipe 24 when the two three-way valves are in a first state. for ballasting the float.

  Conversely, when the three-way valves are in a second state, the pumping unit 20 can draw water into the float through the pipe 24 and discharge the water into the river through the pipe 16.

  Each of the caissons 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d and 3f comprises, in vertical alignment with the recess 19 of each of the floats 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d or 4f placed beneath it, a well 26 which is formed of one piece with the bottom wall 27 of the box. Each well 26 has a sufficient height, for example 60 cm to prevent the inner compartment or compartments of the corresponding box are flooded in service. Each well 26 allows the passage of the hoses 21, 23 and 25 to the corresponding recess 19, and it also constitutes an access passage to a inspection hatch 28 provided in the bottom of the recess 19 to give access to the inside the float corresponding to the maintenance personnel. Of course, the inspection hatch 28 can be sealed. The well 26 may also be closed by a tight cover (not shown) during the transport of the floating caisson (before assembly of the elements of the infrastructure of the floating structure).

  The concrete caissons and metal floats of the structure 1 of the floating structure can be assembled as follows.

  After the concrete caissons and the metal floats have each been manufactured on their respective construction sites, they are launched and floated to an assembly site which may be for example located near the site. construction of concrete caissons. At this point, the metal floats are ballasted, for example using a motor pump installed on a service boat. The ballasted floats are then pushed by the service boat under the corresponding concrete caisson 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d or 3f. When each float of a group of floats is approximately in its place below the corresponding concrete box, a positioning and locking system (not shown) is installed between each float and the corresponding concrete box. For example, two positioning cones may be attached to the top of the float, for example using a bayonet-type fastening system. Each positioning cone is adapted to engage and center in a corresponding conical recess (not shown) formed in the underside of the corresponding concrete box, by a relative vertical movement of the float relative to the box obtained by deballasting the float by example using the pumping group 20 contained in the concrete box. Once the male and female cones have been nested one inside the other, a locking device, for example of the screw type, is tightened and locked in order to maintain the positioning cones in their assembled state. Positioning and locking systems are preferably located in watertight wells to avoid any danger of flooding the concrete caisson with water.

  The floats 4a to 4d have a buoyancy such that, once they have been deballasted completely or almost completely, they have a draft such as the concrete box 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d or 3f placed above of them is completely out of the water. With the dimensions indicated above floats, they have, in a deballasted state, a draft of about 3 m, that is to say, with floats having a height of 3.20 m the concrete caissons are about 20 cm above the water.

  Since, in use, the concrete boxes are completely out of the water and therefore are not or only slightly influenced by it, the positioning and locking means mentioned above are not absolutely essential when the floating structure is intended for use in calm waters. In this case, the boxes and the floats may have respectively a bottom wall and an upper wall which have surface conditions such that, after placing each float below a corresponding box and deballasting the float in place , the float and the corresponding box are held immobile relative to each other simply by the friction between said upper and lower walls.

  Once the groups of floats 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d and 4f have been put in place and possibly attached to the corresponding concrete boxes 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d or 3f, the modules 5a, 5b, 5c, 5d, 5f thus obtained, as well as the modules constituted by the caissons 3e and 3g are brought by means of a tug or a pusher to their final location. At this point, the various modules are approached from one another and positioned by means of drawers or approach winches, and they are arranged in a predefined arrangement such as for example that shown in FIG. Wooden wedges are put in place to ensure proper distance between the cribs. Gaskets, for example foam gaskets are placed between the caissons and tablets, then the spaces are filled with a grout of cement.

  To complete the connection between the boxes, holes are then drilled in the walls of the concrete boxes which are contiguous to each other. Alternatively, plugs could be removed which sealingly seal holes provided in advance in said walls during the construction of the concrete boxes. Then, sheaths are placed in the aligned holes in the contiguous walls of the box, and tension bars, such as for example "Dywidag" bars or "Maccalloy" bars, are installed in the ducts and put in tension. In FIG. 2, the voltage bars are designated by the references 30ab, 30bc, 30ce, 30cf, 30ef, 30eg, 30de and 30df, the two letters ab, bc, ... df corresponding each time to the letters assigned to the digits of FIG. reference designating the two boxes that are linked by the tension bars in question. In FIG. 2, each of the strong lines representing the voltage bars correspond in fact to several voltage bars, for example two or three voltage bars spaced apart in a vertical plane. Hoods are then placed at the ends of the sleeves containing the tension bars and a wax or grease is injected into the sleeves and covers to protect the tension bars against corrosion, while allowing their subsequent removal if necessary, by example if the floating structure must be later removed for relocation elsewhere.

  Referring again to Figure 1, it can be seen that the superstructure 2 of the floating structure comprises a number of elements or modules 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d and 2e. These modules 2a to 2e can be installed or constructed at least partly and individually on each of the concrete boxes 3a to 3f of the infrastructure 1 after each of these boxes has been assembled with the corresponding floats 4a, 4b, 4c or 4d to form the module 5a, 5b, 5d or 5f of the infrastructure 1. Alternatively, the modules 2a to 2e of the superstructure 2 can be installed and / or built on the infrastructure 1 after the modules 5a, 5b, 5c , 5d, 5f, 3e and 3g were assembled and linked to each other.

  In the case of the floating pool shown in the drawings, the modules 2a to 2d may include for example administrative premises, technical rooms, locker rooms, recreation rooms (bar, restaurant, gyms ...), a or more liner or "liner" for the pool or pools, etc. ... The superstructure 2 may further comprise fixed cover elements and movable cover elements, which have not been shown in the drawings so not to overload the figures and to the extent that these elements are not essential for the understanding of the invention.

  In fact, what is important for the floating structure according to the invention is that its infrastructure 1 is made in two parts, namely on the one hand the concrete boxes and, on the other hand, the metal floats, and that, in use, the metal floats are removable individually or in groups each consisting of a small number of floats, for example by group of three floats for the floats 4a to 4d or group of two floats for the floats 4f. Under these conditions, the floats 4a to 4f are preferably dimensioned such that they have sufficient buoyancy to maintain out of water all the AA concrete boxes 3a to 3g and the superstructure 2 even in the absence of a group of three floats 4a, 4b, 4c or 4d or a group of two floats 4f. Thus, it is possible to establish a system of rotation of the floats such that each float will be streamlined and maintained for example once every five years, and this without it being necessary to interrupt the activity of the floating structure, for example of the pool described above, for the purpose of fairing and / or repair floats.

  With the floats having the dimensions indicated above and a draft of 3 m when they are in use under the concrete caissons, to remove a float or a group of floats, simply ballast the float or floats to be removed to a draft of 3.15 m. This is sufficient to cancel the thrust of ballasted float (s) against the lower surface of the concrete box placed above, to release the ballasted float (s) and to remove them from below the floating structure, for example using of cables connected to winches on a service boat.

  Then, the ballasted and removed float (s) are pulled to a place where they are unballasted with a motor pump installed on the service boat, after which the deballasted float (s) can be towed to a fairing yard. .

  While the float or floats are removed, it may be necessary to deballaster also some of the floats remaining under the floating structure lo and / or ballast other floats remaining under the floating structure, to maintain or correct the attitude of said floating structure. In addition, the float or floats removed for their fairing or repair may be temporarily replaced either by one or more inflatable floats, or by one or more replacement floats identical to that or those which have been removed. In the second case, the spare float or floats are ballasted by a motor pump and positioned with the help of a service boat that pushes the floats in their place under the floating structure. Then the positioning and locking systems (or positioning), when provided, are placed between the float or floats and the concrete box above, then the float or floats are deballasted in order to the or press them against the lower surface of said concrete box.

  From the foregoing description, it is clear that during its life the floating structure does not need to be moved entirely to a fairing yard for periodic inspections of the submerged parts of the structure. . Simply remove the floats individually or in groups according to a predefined cycle.

  Thus the floating structure (pool, hotel / restaurant, etc ...) can remain continuously in service without it being necessary to interrupt the operation by periods of dry.

  The floating structure also has several advantages: The floating structure is supported by a large number of individual floats, each float constituting an independent sealed compartment, which greatly increases the safety of the structure.

  - Floats can be designed with a size and weight that allows them to dry by means of a crane (so do not necessarily need a dry docking facility to maintain the floats). Since the floats are of limited size and weight, they are easily transportable. Their maintenance and dry-out do not require large installations and can be carried out by small local projects. The periodic maintenance of floats is simple and inexpensive (cleaning, painting etc ...).

  - The floats are of a very simple construction. Possible repairs of a float will therefore be simple and inexpensive.

  - The limited dimensions and price of the floats allow to deliver the floating structure with some spare floats, which facilitates maintenance rotation of the floats.

  - It is easy to enlarge an existing structure by adding one or more additional modules.

  It is understood that the shapes of the modules, their number and their arrangement which have been described above about a floating pool may vary depending on the intended use for the floating structure. In particular, it may be advantageous, where possible, for all concrete boxes to be dimensioned such that their length and width are substantially integer multiples of the length and width of a float, so that all the floats can be identical and interchanged. This greatly facilitates not only the manufacture of the floating structure, but also its maintenance in particular, because it is sufficient to have a small number of replacement floats of a single type to replace the float or floats removed and evacuated to be streamlined or repaired.

  In addition, although the invention has been described in connection with metal floats, in particular steel, the floats can be made of other materials, such as for example composite materials such as fiber-reinforced plastics, or even still in concrete or any other material usable to make floats.

Claims (13)

  Floating structure comprising a floating supporting infrastructure (1) and a superstructure (2) carried by the infrastructure, characterized in that the floating supporting infrastructure (1) comprises a first assembly (1A) composed of several caissons (3a). 3g) in individually concrete capable of floating and attached to each other by connecting means (30) and a second set (1B) consisting of several ballastable and deballastable floats (4a-4f), which are arranged below at least a portion of the boxes of the first set (1A) for supporting said first set and the superstructure (2) installed thereon.   2. Structure according to claim 1, characterized in that the floats (4a-4f) are metallic and have sufficient buoyancy to keep out of water the first set (lA) and the superstructure (2) even in the absence of part of the floats of the second set (1B).   3. Structure according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the floats 15 (4a-4f) have a generally parallelepiped shape.   4. Structure according to claim 3, characterized in that each concrete box (3a, 3b, 3c, 3d or 3f) is associated with a group of floats (4a, 4b, 4c, 4d or 4f).   5. Structure according to claim 4, characterized in that the floats (4a, 4b, 4c, 4d or 4f) of at least one group of floats have identical shapes and dimensions.   6. Structure according to claim 4, characterized in that each box (3a, 3b, 3c, 3d or 3f) and the group of floats (4a, 4b, 4c, 4d or 4f) associated therewith constitutes an entity which is equipped with its own pumping unit (20) for ballasting and deballasting the floats of said associated group of floats.   7. Structure according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that each float (4a-4f) comprises a water intake pipe (16) having a lower end which opens into a first recess (17) open downwardly formed in the lower surface of the float and forming a water intake chamber closed by a gate (18), and an upper end which opens into a second upwardly open recess (19) formed in the upper surface of the float and which is provided with a connection for its connection to a pumping unit (20).   8. Structure according to claim 7, characterized in that each float (4a-4f) further comprises a vent pipe (22) which communicates the inside of the float with the outside and which opens outwardly in the second recess (19) where it is provided with a coupling, and a ballasting / deballasting pipe (24) having a lower end which opens into the float near its bottom wall (7) and an upper end which opens in the second recess (19) and which is provided with a connection for its connection to the pumping unit (20).   io 9. Structure according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that each float (4a-4f) comprises at least one sealed compartment (13) which is separated from the rest of the interior volume of the float and which forms a reserve of buoyancy when the float is fully ballasted.   10. Structure according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the boxes (3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, 3f) and the floats (4a, 4b, 4c, 4d, 4f) are provided with complementary means positioning device that can be assembled by complementarity of shape by a vertical relative movement of the floats relative to the caissons, and locking means adapted to maintain the complementary positioning means in their assembled state.   11. Structure according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the boxes (3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, 3f) and the floats (4a, 4b, 4c, 4d, 4f) respectively have a bottom wall (27) and an upper wall (11) which have surface conditions such that after placing each float below a corresponding box and deballasting the float set up, the float and the corresponding box are kept immobile l relative to each other simply by the weight of the box and the friction between said upper and lower walls.   12. Structure according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that a (3e) concrete boxes is shaped so as to have at least one pool basin (6).   13. Floating pool, characterized in that it comprises a floating structure according to any one of the preceding claims.