In this thesis, the theory of Cosserat rods is applied to the dynamics of drill-strings. The main objective is to evaluate the behaviour of these strings when they move within curved wells. To achieve this goal, a deterministic structural model is constructed, where the drill-pipes and the bottom hole assembly are taken as a Cosserat rod. Next, a strategy to deal with the lateral contact in curved well configurations is developed. After that, the free boundary problem is assessed: while drilling, the boundary changes due to cutting, modifying the position of the soil and, consequently, changing the bit-rock interaction forces. For this reason, a bit-rock model that can account for the cutting dynamics is adopted, in which an extra advection equation is solved together with the equations of motion of the Cosserat rod. Next, application cases are provided. First, some effects included in the model are tested in isolation, such as the lateral friction, the lateral contact, and the cutting. After that, they are all combined. In the first analysis, an off-bottom string is simulated, i.e. without contact at the bit. This allows testing the formulation associated with the lateral contact. Also, the calibration of the lateral friction parameters is made. Following that, the strategy to account for the cutting at the bit is implemented in a low-dimensional 2-DOF model, and in a semi-discrete model with a continuous wave equation for the torsional dynamics. The results show that the use of continuous approaches is more appropriate than low-dimensional models. Especially when long columns are considered, and when there is interest in understanding not only the behaviour at the bit but also along drill-pipes. This finding is reinforced by another application where the cutting dynamics are combined with the Cosserat rod formulation. Again, similar observations from a qualitative point of view are found. Overall, the differences in the results between the lumped low-dimensional models and the continuous Cosserat rod justify the development and application of the Cosserat approach to drilling structures. Finally, an introductory stochastic analysis concerning the variability of the rock is presented as an introduction to a future line of research, where stochasticity is included.