An experimental greenhouse equipped with fan and pad evaporative cooling is analysed using two different models. Thefirstone consists of a numerical simulation approach applying a commercial CFD code. The main aspects of evaporative coolingsystems,interms of heat and mass transfer and both the external and internal climatic conditions were integrated to set up the numerical model.Thecrop (tomato) was simulated using the equivalent porous medium approach by the addition of a momentumand energy sourceterm.Thetemperature and humidity of incoming air, the operational characteristics of exhaust fans and the pressure drop occuringinthepad, werespecified to set up the CFD model. The second model considers the greenhouse as a heat exchanger. Based on greenhousestructuralcharacteristics, external climatic conditions, pad efficiency and ventilation rate, the air temperature distribution is predicted. Theresults,concerning the air temperature, provided both by numerical and analytical model, were validated by experimental measurementsobtained at a height level of 1.2 m above the ground in the middle of the crop canopy. The correlation coefficient (R2) betweencomputational results and experimental data was at the order of 0.96 for the numerical model and 0.77 for the analytical one,withaverage percentage error of 3.5% and 7.6%, respectively. The analytical model proved to be a useful simple evaluationtool, butthenumerical one provides a more accurate overview of the air flow in the greenhouse showing that fan and pad evaporative coolingsystemcould be effectively parameterized in numerical terms, in order to improve system’s efficiency. Keywords: heat exchanger, temperature gradients, air flow,CFD