The high-speed impact of a projectile on a liquid-filled tank causes the hydraulic ram, in which a cavity is formed. To study the growth characteristics of the cavity, the formation mechanism of the cavity is analyzed. The effect of Reynolds number and Mach number on drag coefficient is considered, the axial and radial growth models of the cavity are established respectively. The relative errors between the cavity length calculated by the axial growth model, the cavity diameter calculated by the radial growth model and Ma L. Y. test results are less than 20％, which verifies the effectiveness of the axial and radial growth models. Finally, numerical simulation is carried out to study the growth characteristics of the cavity caused by the projectile impacting the satellite tank at the velocity of 4000 m/s. The cavity length and diameter calculated by the axial and radial growth models agree well with those obtained by simulation results, indicating that the cavity length and diameter in satellite tank can be accurately calculated by the axial and radial growth models.