Aiming at the pipeline robot with complicated mechanical structure and a single diameter adaptation problem, a pipeline robot adapted to variable diameter actively is proposed. A virtual prototype model of the wheel type pipeline robot with SolidWorks software was built. In addition, analysis of the performance of changing diameter and cornering was provided. Then the model was imported into ADAMS and according to the actual conditions, adding constraints, analysis of pipeline crawling kinematic and dynamic simulation were carried out. The results show that the robot can be adapted to the diameter of 110~130 mm range, that the minimum turning radius is 140 mm. The changing diameter models in horizontal pipe are less than 13 N in pressure, and those in vertical pipeline are less than 2.6 N in pressure. The results of this study have provided references for the future production of physical prototype and experimental research.