Combining with some coal bunker project, two kinds of modeling methods are used through the software PLAXIS. The loading effect of coal is simplified as distributed load on the foundation in the former model while interaction of coal and foundation is emphasized in the latter one. Considering the result of splitting summation method, we can tell the difference of the two modeling methods in terms of ground settlement and structural response of pile foundation. It is found out that the settlement of foundation can be overestimated without consideration of coal-foundation interaction which is thought to be conservative in design. Moreover, as to the former model, the distribution of load transferred from coal also differs a lot from the one taking account of coal-foundation interaction, thus may causing misjudgment if pile capacity is not satisfied.