The writers thank the discussers for their interest in our work. As stated in the summary, the discussion aims at proving that a specific conclusion reported in the paper 'is valid only for the particular model studied and cannot be generalized'. The conclusion in question is briefly reported in the discussion as follows:
'The major conclusion of the study is that with increasing earthquake intensity, which will push the model farther into the inelastic range, the maximum displacement demand in the different resisting elements is reached with the same deformed configuration of the system and that the resultant of the seismic forces producing such maximum demand is located at the center of resistance (CR).'
To facilitate a more complete understanding of our response to the discussion, the most significant statements from our paper dealing with the aforementioned conclusion are reported below.
In the section 'Strength Distribution: Base-Shear-Torque Surface and Center of Resistance', we observed that 'Among all of the mechanisms, the one that provides the maximum lateral strength V max of the building in the imposed direction of the seismic excitation can be identified. Hereafter, the center of the resistances associated with this mechanism will be denoted as CR.'
In the section 'Observed Nonlinear Dynamic Response', we further note that 'The V sy,i max -T sy,i max paths (authors' note: base-shear-torque combinations corresponding to the maximum displacements demand in the resisting elements of the system), which are initially different in the elastic domain, change direction after the building yields, pointing toward the same point in the nonlinear range. This point corresponds to the collapse mechanism of the BST surface that provides the maximum lateral strength of the building (authors' note: previously defined as CR). This observation leads to many significant conclusions. First of all, it indicates that the response of the asymmetric-plan system changes after getting into the nonlinear range. Thereafter, this change leads the system to resist the seismic action with its maximum lateral strength. A significant effect of this observed behavior is that in the nonlinear range a single V -T configuration of the seismic forces produces the maximum displacement demand in each resisting element of the system.'
Finally, in the same section, we claimed that 'A similar trend can be also observed in the displacements plots. With increasing PGA, the profile of the displacement envelope flattens, meaning that the maximum displacement demand in the different resisting elements tends to be reached with the same deformed configuration of the system.'
The discussers claim that in order to demonstrate that this conclusion is applicable only to the specific models used in the paper, it is sufficient to prove that it is not valid for just one other model in which the characteristics of the lateral resisting elements are different. The model selected in the discussion is a simple single-story shear-wall system.