This paper presents a nonlinear finite element method to resolve the problem of the nonlinear contact between the drillstring and hole wall by using a Multi-directional Contact Gap Element (MCGE) contacting at appropriate positi o ns in each beam element. The method was successfully applied to the Daqing Oil F ield GP1 well. It was shown that the drillstrings contact resistance at any wel l depth could be obtained by calculations and that as the error in the calculati on of the hole top load is below 10%, the calculation result can provide theoret ical basis for the design and operation of drillstrings.