Uniformly distributed gas flow in the retorting zone suggests high thermal efficiency and high productivity for the oil shale retort using gaseous heat-carrier technology. In order to improve the gas flow distribution of Xinjiang oil shale retort, a double-deck gas inlet structure was designed and applied to it in this work. To test the efficiency of the new inlet structure, the gas flow distribution in the retorting zone was investigated through a threedimensional cold model of the retort. Comparison of experimental results showed that the uniformity of gas flow distribution in the retorting zone increased over 8% and the sizes of "dead zone" decreased more than 10% when the retort was equipped with the double-deck gas inlet structure. This indicates that the application of the new gas inlet structure may significantly enhance the thermal efficiency of the pyrolysis process.