To assess the impingement capability of water jet, submerged water jet discharged from a centralbody nozzle is investigated. Efforts are devoted to both the wavy jet edge and the cavitation phenomenon involved. Three configurations of the central body are examined and jet pressure is fixed at 15 MPa. Jet edge is visualized using high speed photography. Numerical simulation is performed to extract flow parameter distributions in the jet stream and to predict cavity profiles. Furthermore, an impingement experiment with target sandstone samples is conducted as well. The results indicate that both lateral fluctuation amplitude and frequency of the jet stream vary with axial position of the central body. Cavitation tongues of different stream wise dimensions are manifested in the wake flows downstream of the central body. In case of the downstream end of the central body parallel with nozzle outlet section, the largest stream wise dimension of cavitation zone is obtained. Relative to the round nozzle with the same equivalent outlet diameter, the central-body nozzle yields preferable impinging effect.