FREE BODY DIAGRAM

In many problems, it is essential to isolate the body under consideration from the other bodies in
contact and draw all the forces acting on the body. For this, first the body is drawn and then applied
forces, selfweight and the reactions at the points of contact with other bodies are drawn. Such a
diagram of the body in which the body under consideration is freed from all the contact surfaces and
shows all the forces acting on it (including reactions at contact surfaces), is called a
Free Body Diagram (FBD). Free Body Diagrams (FBD) are shown for few typical cases in
Table 2.2.