Even though the longitudinally stiffened laminated composite plates with closed section ribs should be an effective system for axially compressed members, the existing researches on the applications of closed-section ribs, especially for the laminated composite plates, are not sufficient. This study is aimed to examine the influence of the sectional stiffness of U-shaped ribs on the buckling modes and strengths of laminated composite plates. Applying the orthotropic plates with eight layers of the layup [(0°)4]s and [(0°/90°)2]s, 3-dimensional finite element models for the U-rib stiffened plates were setup by using ABAQUS and then a series of eigenvalue analyses were conducted. From the parametric studies, the minimum required ply thicknesses as well as the buckling strengths were presented for the analysis models. The buckling strengths were compared with the theoretical critical stress equation for simply supported plates based on the Classical laminated plate theory. This study will contribute to the future study for evaluating the minimum required stiffness and optimum design of U-rib stiffened plates