The paper deals with several modeling approaches that are relevant for understanding the self-healing mechanisms in a class of civil engineering materials like blast furnace slag cement and concrete. Since the present paper is a compilation of modeling studies carried out by the authors, it does not aim at being mathematically rigorous but it is merely descriptive of nature. The approaches are used for the prediction of the likelihood for the onset of the self-healing mechanism, as well as for the prediction of the rate and capacity of the self-healing process. Although the approaches are applied to civil engineering materials, the mathematical nature of the treatment allows an easy generalization to other classes of materials.