OVERVIEW OF PHYSICS STUDIES ON ASDEX UPGRADE

The ASDEX Upgrade (AUG) programme, jointly run with the EUROfusion MST1 task force, continues to enhance significantly the physics base of ITER and DEMO. Here, the full tungsten wall is a key asset for extrapolating to future devices. The high overall heating power, flexible heating mix and comprehensive diagnostic set allows studies ranging from mimicking the scrape-off-layer (SOL) and divertor conditions of ITER and DEMO to investigations low at collisionality testing ITER/DEMO pedestal and core physics. This paper summarises the research in key areas of divertor and edge physics, operation without edge localised modes (ELM), fast ion physics, disruption handling and core transport over the last two years.