Drag reduction by a linear viscosity profile

Drag reduction by polymers in turbulent flows raises an apparent contradiction: the stretching of the polymers must increase the viscosity, so why is the drag reduced? A recent theory proposed that drag reduction. in agreement with experiments. is consistent with the effective viscosity growing linearly with the distance from the wall. With this self-consistent solution the reduction in the Reynolds stress overwhelms the increase in viscous drag. In this Rapid Communication we show, using direct numerical simulations. that a linear viscosity profile indeed reduces the drag in agreement with the theory and in close correspondence with direct simulations of the FENE-P model at the same flow conditions.