spurt loss

The instantaneous volume (spurt) of liquid that passes through a filter medium prior to deposition of a competent and controlling filter cake. In static filtration, the spurt volume can be a disproportionately large percentage of the total 30-minute filtrate in an API-type test. This indicates that filter cake is slow in being deposited compared to a similar mud with lower spurt loss. To avoid uncertainties of spurt-loss volume, relative filtrate volume is used in static tests.