ABSTRACT
In this paper, expansive soils in China are described including the distribution type of hazards and economic losses caused by expansive soil. Four internal factors for controlling the swelling-shrinkage of expansive soil are discussed in detail. The research shows that some expansive soils contain a certain amount of mixed-layer clay mineral, that the expansive soils mainly with the exchange cation Mg2+ and laminar flow microstructure have stronger expansion and shrinkage and that most expansive soils in China are natural highly dispersive soil with a clay content greater than 30%.
