  We theoretically investigate the manipulation of the quantum anomalous Hall
effect (QAHE) in graphene by means of the uniaxial strain. The values of Chern
number and Hall conductance demonstrate that the strained graphene in presence
of Rashba spin-orbit coupling and exchange field, for vanishing intrinsic
spin-orbit coupling, possesses non-trivial topological phase which is robust
against the direction and modulus of the strain. Besides, we also find that the
interplay between Rashba and intrinsic spin-orbit couplings results in a
topological phase transition in the strained graphene. Remarkably, as the
strain strength is increased beyond approximately 7%, the critical parameters
of the exchange field for triggering the quantum anomalous Hall phase
transition show distinct behaviors - decrease (increase) for strains along
zigzag (armchair) direction. Our findings open up a new platform for
manipulation of the QAHE by an experimentally accessible strain deformation of
the graphene structure, with promising application on novel quantum electronic
devices with high energy efficiency performance.
