Nashville International Airport

The Slim Jim® assemblies were moved by crane and submerged in the Hoover Rock Quarry. The Quarry has a surface area of approximately 43 acres with an average depth of 150 feet, containing approximately 1.5 billion gallons of water. The Quarry has a constant year-round temperature of approximately 50° Fahrenheit.

The assemblies were also piped in parallel allowing a compact design forming a boxlike structure. Eleven yellow marker buoys mark the location of the individual lake plate assemblies that are submerged in the quarry.

This project takes advantage of the year-round cool temperature of the Quarry water using a closed water recirculation loop.The condenser water from the airport central plant is circulated through the lake plates were where the warm water is cooled by rejecting the waters energy to the cooler water of the quarry. The cooler water is returned to the airport terminal’s central plant chillers providing the cooling for the entire terminal. This eliminates the need for cooling towers and the enormous amount of potable water consumed in their operation.