The physical properties, swelling-shrinkage characteristics and shear strength of an expansive soil modified with waste tire rubber particles were studied.The expansive soil used was obtained from Jingzhou, Hubei Province, China. The test results showed that when the mass fractions of rubber particles was under 23%, the liquid limit and plastic index of the modified expansive soil increased with the increment of mass fractions of rubber particles，while the plastic limit had little change. Compared with the unmodified expansive soil, the maximum dry density of the modified expansive soil decreased and the optimum water content was almost unchanged, the cohesion and the shear strength of the modified expansive soil decreased clearly, but the shear strength and the internal friction angle of the modified expansive soil had little change with the increment of mass fractions of rubber particle. The swelling-shrinkage characteristics of the modified soil were significantly weakened. Moreover, the best modified effect was obtained under a mass fraction of waste tire rubber particles of 23%.
