Abstract
The paper describes the behavior of the system of geometrically nonlinear drill columns under the action of dynamic loads. The authors used the finite element method to solve the boundary value problems. The forms of the beam in the transverse direction were expressed by cubic Hermite polynomials. It has been found out that nonlinearity of the column may substantially change the character of oscillatory processes in its transverse direction. The loss of stability may occur during slip kicking at high values of nonlinearity.