The cavity induced by top-blow gas jets impinging on the bath surface is one of most important parameters, which has overwhelming influence on the rate of slag formation and metallurgical performance. Water model experiments are conducted through a 1/10 scaled-down top-blown convertor. Effects of lance height and gas flow rate on penetration behavior are studied, and also the influence mechanism of liquid surface tension on penetration depth is addressed based on the experiments and theory analysis. An energy utilization index (EUI) is defined to reflect how much the impinging kinetic energy of gas jets are transferred into bath for formation of cavity, and an improved model is proposed to predict penetration depth of jets. The results show that penetration depth increases with lowering lance height and increasing gas flow rate, and impact diameter increases with increasing lance height, but is little affected by gas flow rate. Influence of liquid surface tension on penetration depth is enhanced with increasing surface tension and penetration depth. The EUI increases with increasing lance height, and a function relationship of it with lance height is obtained based on the experiments.