The paper presents research upon the gas distribution in a physical model and the computer simulation of dust separation in a horizontal electrostatic precipitator (ESP) with a flat inlet diffuser. The research of a gas flow was carried out using the visualization method and the velocity measurement in cross sections of a model chamber. By selecting suitable choking diffusion screens and deflecting vanes in a diffuser the oblique profiles of a gas velocity were obtained for different obliqueness degree. It was assumed that the velocity profiles obtained should guarantee higher performance of an ESP than those uniform profiles as used so far. Those assumptions were proved by the results of computer simulation obtained using a program SYMULA-X. The results of experiments and computer simulation arc presented in a graphical form.