With the continuous expansion of the city boundary, the traffic problems inside the city are becoming increasingly serious. As an efficient means of transportation, urban rail transit has been paid more and more attention by urban decision makers. Among them, the low-floor tram has been widely used in many cities because of its economic and environmental protection, energy saving, and other characteristics [
1,
2]. The low-floor tram is composed of three motor vehicles Mc1, M, Mc2, and a trailer T. The overall structure of a low-floor tram is shown in
Figure 1. Mc1 and T form a unit and M and Mc2 form another unit. The two units are connected by a single hinge joint, and only two vehicles are allowed to yaw around the hinge center in the horizontal plane [
3]. Because this kind of tram adopts the structure of one bogie for each vehicle, the yaw angle of the vehicle body relative to the bogie in the plane is larger when crossing the curve. When the train passes through the curve, the bogie and articulated device will bear a certain torque, which can cause the relative rotation of the vehicle body and the lateral force on the wheel flange to increase. The excessive torque may even cause the train derailment. The installation of a hydraulic anti-kink system can restrain the yaw angle of the vehicle body relative to the bogie and greatly reduce the lateral force on the wheel flange [
4]. Therefore, it is essential to research the curving performance and running stability of the low-floor tram.
Uhl T. et al. [
5] researched the structural dynamic characteristics of the low-floor tram by experimental method, including the strain measurement at the hinge joint and some motion devices in the vehicle body. They used a non-contact sensor to measure the displacement, yaw angle, and some mutual characteristics describing vehicle dynamics. Zhang X. et al. [
6] established the dynamic model of a low-floor tram, determined the inner and outer widening amount of low-floor tram when running on the curve. They analyzed the dynamic performance index of low-floor tram with or without an anti-kink system. However, their analysis lacked the state quantity calculation of the hydraulic system, which had certain limitations. According to the flow continuity equation and force balance equation, Huang Y.P. et al. [
7] established the dynamic model of the hydraulic anti-kink system of the tram and analyzed the dynamic response characteristics of the hydraulic anti-kink system. Their results showed that the force of the hydraulic cylinder controlled by the anti-kink system is different, and the force of the hydraulic cylinder near the guide wheel of the front vehicle is the largest. Zhu W.L et al. [
8] established the models of the control subsystem, air brake subsystem, electric brake subsystem, and brake execution subsystem by using multidisciplinary collaborative analysis method. Their results provided theoretical basis for the development and design optimization of brake system. Li J. et al. [
9] established the damping mathematical model which affected the lateral damping function of the anti-kink system by analyzing the principle of the anti-kink system. They analyzed the influence of throttle valve and pressure limiting valve in the buffer valve group on the damping characteristics. The simulation curve of damping characteristics was in good agreement with the test curve. Wang Y.Q. et al. [
10] designed two sets of the hydraulic anti-kink system, which can satisfy the operation state of anti-kink system in normal mode, fault mode, and anti-kink mode. They took the articulated Mc1 and vehicle T as their research objects. The two sets of anti-kink system were simulated under normal operation mode by AMESim software, they obtained the displacement of vehicle Mc1’s main control cylinder and vehicle T’s main control cylinder piston. Ding W.S. et al. [
11] based on the establishment of a corresponding mathematical model and analyzed the formation principle of combined damping. The influence of the design parameters of the buffer valve group on the damping characteristics was further analyzed. Their results showed that the combination of throttle valve and pressure limiting valve in the buffer valve group forms the damping characteristics of multi segment parabola combination with multi inflection points. Liu X. et al. [
12] established a lateral dynamic curve negotiation model of suspension rail vehicle bogies based on the coupling system of rubber tire and ground. They analyzed the lateral and yaw motion dynamics of wheel set structure with rubber tire and ground coupling, the displacement and acceleration response of bogie were calculated when vehicle frame and wheelset pass through curve section. Based on the theory of vehicle track coupling dynamics, Wang K.Y. et al. [
13] simulated the performance indexes of wheel rail dynamic lateral interaction between locomotive and vehicle when passing through different curve tracks, including passenger and freight trains passing through mountain railway with a small radius curve, 160 km/h passenger train and 200 km/h freight train passing through curve track with different radius. Zboinski K. et al. [
14] researched the nonlinear lateral stability of rail vehicles on the curve, and proposed a method to solve the more complex rail vehicle model.
Complex products have the intersection of multi-disciplinary information, and the manufacturing cycle of physical prototype is long and the cost is high. With the development of computer hardware and the technical progress in the field of single subject simulation, the product analysis of virtual prototype of complex products using multidisciplinary joint simulation technology plays an increasingly important role in the process of product development. The traditional empirical formula and estimation method are difficult to satisfy the design requirements of a low-floor tram when crossing the curve. The simulation method of multidisciplinary collaborative simulation is used to design and calculate such that a comparison is made between experiment and simulation. This is an effective way to realize the rational optimization design of low-floor tram. This paper took the low-floor tram as the research object and the four vehicles as the research carrier, based on the multidisciplinary collaborative analysis method and the correlation parameters among subsystems. The simulation platform of SIMPACK (A mechanical dynamics software) vehicle dynamic model, AMESim (A complex system modeling and simulation software) anti-kink system hydraulic model and Simulink model are built to research the influence of hydraulic anti-kink system on the dynamic performance of the low-floor tram under curve conditions.