The liquid circulated through the wellbore during rotary drilling and workover operations. In addition to its function of bringing cuttings to the surface, drilling mud cools […]

Examination and testing of drilling mud to determine its physical and chemical properties.

An instrument consisting of a cup and a graduated arm with a sliding weight and resting on a fulcrum, used to measure weight of the mud.

The sheath of mud solids that forms on the wall of the hole when liquid from mud filters into the formation. Also called filter cake or […]

The process of pumping mud downward to the bit and back up to the surface in a drilling or workover operation. See normal circulation, reverse circulation.

The treatment and control of drilling mud to ensure that it has the correct properties. Conditioning may include the use of additives, the removal of sand […]

An employee of a drilling fluid supply company whose duty it is to test and maintain the drilling mud properties that are specified by the operator.

A device that shoots a jet of drilling mud under high pressure into the mud pit to mix additives with the mud or to agitate the […]

The recording of information derived from examination and analysis of formation cuttings made by the bit and of mud circulated out of the hole. A portion […]

See mud engineer.

Originally, an open pit dug in the ground to hold drilling fluid or waste materials discarded after the treatment of drilling mud. For some drilling operations, […]

A large, high-pressure reciprocating pump used to circulate the mud on a drilling rig. A typical mud pump is a two-cylinder, double-acting or a three-cylinder, single-acting […]