The project pertains to the wind tunnel testing of an innovative helicopter rotor with Active Gurney Flaps on the blades. The experiments will be carried out in a facility highly specialised for helicopter model testing. The effects of the flap on rotor performances will be assessed in different operating conditions of the rotor, including both hover and forward flight conditions.

A particular feature of the experimental set up will be the Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) system. PIV will be used to carry out some flow field surveys over the blades in order to achieve a better physical insight into the flow behaviour. Moreover, an innovative technique, further developing some recent approaches purposed in the literature, will be used to reconstruct the pressure distribution over the blade section on the base of proper PIV surveys.