A float collar is installed near the bottom of the casing string. Cement plugs land on it during the primary cementing operation, thus retaining inside the casing a small portion of the cement slurry that may have become contaminated as the top plug scrapes the inside of the casing. It is similar to a float shoe; often both are used for redundancy. The internal check valves may be flapper type or spring-loaded balls.The check-valve assembly fixed within the float collar prevents flow back of the cement slurry when pumping is stopped. Without a float collar or float shoe, the cement slurry placed in the annulus could U-tube, or reverse flow back into the casing. The greater density of cement slurries than the displacement mud inside the casing causes the U-tube effect
