This paper reports on experimental and numerical studies of the influence of the design of blowing ducts made from textile materials on ventilation homogeneity in a pilot ripening room filled with cheese models. We tested three blowing ducts with holes of different diameters: 3, 6 and 20 mm, at constant total air inflow rate and velocity magnitudes at the output from the holes. Comparison of numerical results with experimental data revealed a close agreement in qualitative and quantitative prediction of the air velocity magnitudes, highlighting different ventilation levels and ranging heterogeneity around the cheese models. The smaller the hole diameter, the lower the ventilation heterogeneity and the velocities inside the stacks. Furthermore, we evaluated the consequences of this variation in airflow distribution on the water losses of real cheeses initially weighing 400 g. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.