The relevance of research. Iron separator devices based on the DC electromagnets are widely spread in many industries: ore-treatment plants, coal thermal power plants, coking plants, for equipment protection from mechanical damage, as well as from final product clogged with outsider objects; separation is based on ferromagnetic properties of these objects. Among the permanent magnets magnetic systems with magnetic pole pieces the valve system is the most common and therefore the well-studied, as it is widely used in the drives of electromagnetic switching devices, automation and control devices. However, even in the synthesis of a solenoid magnet system the developers have the problem of determining the proportion of the magnetic flux by the pole piece in the working gap. Solution of the problem is even more complicated in the absence of a rotary anchor in DC electromagnet, since the magnetic field in the pole gap is dramatically uneven, fading with the distance of the point from the plane of the poles. Such distribution of the magnetic field takes place in special DC electromagnets - suspended iron separators, which are used to extract the ferromagnetic items from various bulk materials transported by belt conveyors. The aim of research. The paper considers an integrated approach to the study of magnetic field of DC electromagnet with split poles and pole pieces, characterized by the study of the sharp inhomogeneity of the magnetic field in the pole gap and beyond. Methods of research. The study was carried out using a laboratory designed electromagnet using software Elcut 6.0. The approach is based on comparing the results of an experimental study of magnetic field and magnetic force for the prototype electromagnetic iron separator with a digital milliteslametra with the Hall sensor, a numerical calculation of the magnetic field in the complex programs Elcut 6.0 and analytical calculation of the magnetic field. The results. The results of experimental research of the magnetic field in a prototype electromagnet using digital milliteslameter with the Hall sensor were supplemented by results of analytical and numerical calculation of magnetic fields made in the software complex ELCUT 6.0 (professional version). The reliability of the presented results of the experiment and the calculation is confirmed by checking the Ampere law in a closed circuit. Analyzing the attenuation of the magnetic field of the electromagnet in the middle of the pole gap as the distance of the investigated point from the pole pieces the authors determined the optimal distance between the pole pieces at which the specific ponderomotive force of the magnetic field reaches the maximum value.