The main nonlinear phenomena that govern the deformational behavior of early‐age concrete are the evolution of the stiffness properties, the development of thermal strains, creep, and cracking. A general approach for numerically simulating this type of behavior is presented. The thermomechanical problem is decoupled such that first a thermal analysis is carried out and then a stress calculation is performed. An interface program is used to map the results from the thermal analysis onto the input data required for the stress analysis. A brief review of the relations for the thermal‐stress analysis is given, followed by a more elaborate treatment of the algorithm used for the combination of thermal strains, creep, and smeared cracking. To properly accommodate these effects in a finite‐element analysis, a smeared‐crack model is used that is rooted in a decomposition of the strain increments. The emphasis is on the general approach for properly and efficiently handling these phenomena. A special case, namely ...