On a class of optimum problems in structural design

The paper deals with the existence of solutions for a class of optimal design problems. The notion of relaxation of an integral functional with respect toG-convergence is introduced, and a general integral representation theorem is obtained for the relaxed functional. For a particular class of functionals, this integral representation is computed explicitly.This work has been realized in a National Research Project in Mathematics supported by the Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione (Italy).