The study of flow patterns in front of intake has been attracted the attention of researchers during the past decades to explore the mechanism of flow and sediment entry to the intake. In this study, the separation and stream tube dimensions were investigated in water intakes installed to rectangular and trapezoidal main channel. These researches were carried out with experimental and fluent models. The results of experimental and fluent models have a good conformity. It was found that, in trapezoidal main channel, the stream tube width decreases near the bed and increases near the surface and separation dimensions reduced and led to reduction of sediment entry and increase of efficiency