Pontoon bridge using a single 'o'. The U.S. military differentiated between the bridge itself ("ponton") and the floats used to provide buoyancy ("pontoon"). The original word was derived from Old French "ponton", from Latin "ponto" ("ferryboat"), from "pons" ("bridge"). When designing a pontoon bridge, the civil engineer must take into consideration the Archimedes' principle: Each pontoon can support a load equal to the mass of the water that it displaces. This load includes the mass of the bridge and the pontoon itself. If the maximum load of a bridge section is exceeded, one or more pontoons become submerged. Flexible connections have to
GSL-class service barge pontoon GSL-class service barge pontoon A GSL service barge pontoon is a non self-propelled yardcraft built by Goa Shipyard Limited for the Indian Navy. The pontoon is a catamaran having rectangular shaped, flat-bottomed hulls. The hulls are connected by trusses of round pipes and steel deck transverse beams. Each hull is divided into eight watertight compartments. The pontoon have cylindrical rubber fenders of 600 mm O.D. installed on both sides to absorb impacts and low reaction loads. Structural provisions have been made for vertical roller fenders at the forward and aft corners on the side facing the ship. The fenders are