This recommended practice provides standard procedures for determining the following characteristics of water-based drilling fluids:



a) drilling fluid density (mud weight),

b) viscosity and gel strength,

c) filtration,

d) water, oil, and solids contents,

e) sand content,

f) methylene blue capacity,

g) pH,

h) alkalinity and lime content,

i) chloride content,

j) total hardness as calcium,

k) low-gravity solids and weighting material concentrations.



Annexes A through K provide additional test methods that may be used for:



chemical analysis for calcium, magnesium, calcium sulfate, sulfide, carbonate, and potassium,

determination of shear strength,

determination of resistivity,

removal of air,

drill-pipe corrosion monitoring,

sampling, inspection, and rejection,

rig-site sampling,

calibration and verification of glassware, thermometers, timers, viscometers, retort cup, and drilling fluid balances,

permeability plugging testing at high temperature and high pressure for two types of equipment,

sag testing